


Planet of Gold

by rexlover180



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Kissing, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Love, Platonic Relationships, Road to Eldorado au, all the platonic love, aropolydins, everyone you love is aro, poly platonic relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7786798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexlover180/pseuds/rexlover180
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance and Hunk are con-artists, Keith is a gambler, and Pidge is a thief, but sooner or later, they were all bound to get caught. But with a plan in mind and a map to the legendary myth, the Planet of Gold, Altea, maybe they could make it out alive. The only problem? What do they do when the whole planet thinks they're Gods?<br/>Perhaps with the help of the mysterious Altean, Shiro, they can make it out alive with plenty of gold in hand. But with half of their team slowly falling in love with the planet, their plan might slowly start falling apart. Will their friendship be enough to keep them together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Planet of Gold

Chapter 1 Planet of Gold

Lance looked over his partner’s shoulder anxiously as he watched the dice drop. Sure, he knew that their die was loaded and that meant they would win, but it was just a matter of the others would start to notice something. That, and he had to look like his fate was unsure. They’d bet a lot on this one. On one hand, a lot of money. Like, enough to buy your own ship and get the hell off this planet. On the other…indentured servitude. Lance was really not looking forward to that. Which meant they really couldn’t lose. Hunk knew this as well, feeling tense. Lance was the idiot that agreed to this bet in the first place.

When the dice finally stopped, they were greeted by two alien insignias, the two that meant that they had won. And Lance cheered, hoping to really sell it that they didn’t expect to win. He had to walk away from the table, hoping his shaking legs weren’t extremely obvious. He just wanted to get their winnings and get out of that bar. Quickly.

“One more roll!” one of the aliens growled, apparently not good a loser. Lance smirked victoriously, once again claiming his spot right behind his partner.

“Uh, guys, you got nothing to bet with,” Lance said happily. “We kinda just took all you had left!”

“I have one more thing,” the alien said with a smirk, or at least what Lance could assume was a smirk. He pulled out what looked like a rolled up piece of paper, but it looked like something they made old star maps out of. Lance and Hunk shared a glance before the alien opened up the map. “A map to planet Altea.”

“Lemme see that,” Lance said, quickly ripping the map out of his hands and pulling it close to Hunk, so that they could hide their faces as they whispered amongst each other.

“Altea is just a myth,” Hunk whispered.

“Yeah, but a legit map to the planet of gold?” Lance said. “Can you imagine what we could get from there? That’ll be worth millions of what these guys can offer us.”

“Are you sure you even want to risk it?” Hunk asked. “I feel like they’re close to catching on. We have been around for a while.”

“Relax, they’re kinda slow, I think we’ll be fine,” Lance offered. “It’s just a little map and then we can leave this place as fast as possible.”

“We don’t even know how to read this thing,” Hunk said, looking at the map a little closer. Lance narrowed his eyes, looking over it. There was obviously a way to get through the stars to the planet, but it was in a language he hadn’t even seen before.

“We can figure that out,” Lance offered. “Hey, we’ve got more than enough money to buy ourselves a ship. And with that, we can leave this planet in the dust and go find Altea. And if it turns out it doesn’t exist…then we can still have a little adventure. C’mon, it’s not like we’ll lose. We haven’t lost a single one of these games, as long as we’re together.”

“Alright…” Hunk said slowly. “But no more after this one, got it?”

“Got it.”

* * *

“Hit me,” Keith said boredly, his head resting in his hand as he looked at the cards in the other. At least, he just looked like he was bored. He’d spent months learning this game, since it was so popular on this side of the galaxy. He studied the cards, the decks, the languages on them, the colors, everything. How to win, how to lose, and he’d spent months making sure he knew exactly how to lose. Now, it was his chance to start winning. He’d been counting the deck this whole time, keeping track of the other tables in the bar, but this was the best one. And he was definitely winning.

But he was tense, just waiting for someone to catch onto his little game. That was why he wouldn’t stay at this table for much longer. Hell, he’d probably hit up another bar and make his way around the planet until he got bored. It would take a little while to get enough money to leave, but he could manage.

He smirked when he picked up his next card, knowing exactly what symbol he was getting. Perfect. Now he just had to wait for the perfect moment. Turned out, that perfect moment only came in a matter of minutes and he proudly showed off his cards, claiming the pot in front of him. He was about to leave before the alien next to him suddenly grabbed onto his arm.

“No fucking way, you were counting, weren’t you?” the alien growled and Keith flinched, but kept his cover pretty well.

“N-No, of course not,” Keith blurted. “I don’t even know this game very well, I was just testing it out.”

“Bullshit,” the alien snapped, standing up to its full height, which was honestly extremely intimidating. “I’ve seen you at the other tables, too. You’re counting.”

Keith was about to say something, but the alien tightened its grip on his arm and he winced, trying in vain to pull away. Just when Keith started looking around for a way out, the doors to the bar burst open and everyone fell quiet. Keith froze in place.

Those were Zarkon’s soldiers. It didn’t take a genius to know where this was going and Keith struggled violently against the alien holding him captive, but it was much stronger than him. Keith knew exactly how Zarkon’s army worked. He didn’t need proof that you were breaking the law or causing a disturbance. And he did not treat his prisoners kindly.

* * *

Pidge kept quiet as she snuck through the hallways, eyes darting around and ears tuned to the sound of anything coming close. But there was no one here. The ship had docked only a few minutes ago and practically all of the soldiers had filed out. This planet was well-known for having quite the thieving population and there was no doubt that Zarkon would love to take at least half of them prisoner. Pidge just had to be quick to make sure she wasn’t one of them.

She finally found the door she was looking for and hooked up the computer she kept attached to her arm to the pad. It only took a few seconds to hack into and she snuck right in, closing the door behind her. Thankfully, no one was in the room and she was able to walk right up to the monitor in front of her. She was sure it wasn’t important, but it was still connected to everything else in the ship. She could hack into the whole thing from here, but she had to keep her presence unknown. She was here to steal information and that was it. For now, she could calm her need to find some trinket to steal. For now.

She took a deep breath as she began hacking. The Galra language had been one of the hardest she had to learn, but she was determined. It was the first one she’d learned after she was left alone. It was the only language that could lead her to what she was missing. She searched through the databases quickly, reading at practically the speed of light. She had to find them, they had to be somewhere. And once she found them…she’d steal a ship and go there immediately.

They would be the only treasure really worth stealing.

Just when she was getting somewhere with the information, the door behind her opened and an alarm sounded overhead. She immediately twirled around, only to be faced with an armed guard at the door, pointing a run right at her head. No…no, she was so close! She couldn’t stop now!

* * *

Lance and Hunk were running as fast as they could. As it turned out, those aliens caught onto tricks a lot faster than he expected and they did not take kindly to the loaded dice trick. Their shouting had attracted the attention of the newly landed soldiers from Zarkon’s army and Lance knew this did not spell out something good for their future. Lance didn’t take kindly to being behind bars, Hunk could attest to that. He needed free range of motion at all times or he would go absolutely crazy. Just being on a ship for longer than a few hours was enough to drive him mad.

He was definitely not going to get arrested. And he wasn’t about to let his friend get arrested, either. Sadly, that didn’t look like an option as guards appeared around a corner directly in front of them. Lance skidded to a halt beside his partner, desperately looking for a way out, but soon they were completely surrounded, guns pointed right at their chest. And they would have no problems shooting if they had to.

Lance glanced at Hunk, who was already putting his hands in the air.

“Come on, Hunk,” Lance groaned, but slowly moved his hands up as well. There was no way out of this. But they’d made it out of one prison together before, they could do it again. Granted it wasn’t Zarkon’s prison, but he couldn’t think about that now. He didn’t fight it as his hands were roughly shoved behind his back and put into tight restraints. And he walked when he was told. He was still mad that he hadn’t thought to pick up any of the money that they had won. No, instead his mind had only thought to pick up the map and fold it, placing it in his secret, inner jacket pocket for the time being. What use would a map to a legend even be?

Before long, they were walked right into a ship, with soldiers constantly walking around them. There was absolutely no way for them to break out and make it alive. Lance sighed, accepting his fate for now. Maybe if they waited until they made it to the prison planet, they could find a way out, but those chances were slim to none…

He was forced into a room, where he could already see a ton of other prisoners, and forced to kneel. His knees scraped the ground and he looked ahead, but there was no one there. They were waiting. It was an intimidation tactic and Lance knew it. He glanced around, trying to see if there was anyone worthwhile around that could help them escape, but they didn’t exactly seem like a rowdy lot. Perfect…

“Let me go!” someone shouted and Lance glanced back, watching someone who looked like a kid be forced into the room and onto her knees. The kid had fire in her eyes as she looked at the soldiers defiantly. But she was only met with a gun placed right in front of her face and she stayed quiet.

“You all,” a deep voice said suddenly and Lance swallowed thickly. He could hear heavy footsteps, but it was more than just one alien, “are some of the worst scum the universe has to offer.” Lance’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he saw an alien walk right up to the front of the room. That was Zarkon. The Zarkon. He never did any dirty work if he didn’t have to. He was actually here? On this shitty planet?

What was the most terrifying thing, though, was the lioness that sulked behind him. Lance didn’t even know that lions existed outside of Earth. What was the most interesting about the lioness, however, was the fact that her fur had five different distinct colors. Her hind legs were yellow and blue, the other two red and green, her head and chest black…She didn’t look happy, either, but not angry like Lance would expect from a pet of Zarkon. She looked…sad…afraid…

“I don’t need to give reason to take you prisoner,” Zarkon continued. “And when we return to central command you will be treated as such. You are not worthy to breathe, to think, or to even try to correct your ways. You may have heard the rumors of how I take no prisoners alive and you will find out that rumor is…entirely correct.”

What? Lance paused, looking up at the alien in front of him. He always took his prisoners away and everyone assumed that he took them to a prison camp or something to work. Did he really just round everyone up only to kill them? What kind of sick bastard was this guy?

“Take them below,” Zarkon said simply and the soldiers started forcing people to their feet. Lance wanted to fight, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He finally looked at Hunk, who looked just as terrified as Lance felt. They really shouldn’t have tried going for that map, after all…

* * *

Keith didn’t like this one bit. For one, there were a lot of other prisoners, meaning it was crowded. Two, there was no feasible way for him to escape. Three, it was likely he would be killed, he just didn’t know when.

It looked like they were able to fit about four people per cell and Keith was the last one forced into his. He was shoved inside, the restraints pulled off, and the door closed. The room didn’t have any windows or gaps to look outside, just walls and a door that didn’t even have a handle on their side. He wanted to punch something for his own stupidity. He knew he should have left that bar a long time before he did, but he just wanted to keep going, keep winning more money…He was stupid, foolish.

“Well, who would’ve guessed that they’d put four humans together?” a voice said with a small laugh, but it was obviously tense. Everyone was tense. It was true, the other three in the room were at least humanoid, which was a rare trait to see this far away from Earth. Keith just let out a sigh and sat down, leaning against the wall. “Well,” the first one to speak huffed, “you’re friendly, aren’t you?”

Keith didn’t say anything, simply taking note of the others in the cell with him. The first one to speak was tall and fairly lanky, most likely not extremely good in a fight. He was jittery, though, which most likely meant good reflexes. Another one was pretty big, most likely incredibly strong. But he looked positively terrified, so still not good in a fight. The last one was small and she looked pretty quick and agile. She was the one that tried fighting against the guard when she was first brought in. She was feisty, which was good, and she still looked like she was looking for an escape route.

They sat in quiet for a short while and Keith listened intently to the sounds outside of their cell. It took a while before everything settled down. All of the prisoners were in place. It was only a matter of time before the ship took off, sealing their fate.

“Do you think the guards are gone?” the small one asked. So they were thinking about a way to escape. Perfect.

“Maybe,” Keith answered. “They’ll have sentries stationed around and I can't tell what their pattern is yet. No one's moving very much.”

“Wait, are you guys really trying to escape?” the big one asked. “Are you crazy?”

“I’m not ready to die yet,” Keith said simply.

“And I still have people to look for,” the small one said pointedly. “I refuse to believe their actually dead and I’m going to find out for myself.”

“Yeah, but going out there will get you killed even faster,” the lanky one said pointedly.

“Do you have a better plan?” Keith asked. “You do want to live, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-” the lanky one tried but Keith cut him off, walking towards the door as he spoke.

“We need to see what we have to work with to get out of here. We were all taken in for some reason, right? I’m a gambler. I can make quick escapes, but actually planning something like this…I can’t do it alone.”

“Con artists,” the lanky one said simply. “Escape plans are kinda our thing.”

“Thief,” the small one said. “I can break into things pretty easily, but breaking out? I don’t know…”

“What did you break into to get in here?” the lanky one asked curiously.

“Um…” the thief looked down at her feet. “This ship?”

“Then you know at least some of the layout,” Keith said and the thief nodded. “That’s a start.”

“Okay, but how are we going to get out of this cell?” the big one asked. “I mean, it’s not like we can just open the door and walk out, right?”

“It’s a long trip to where Zarkon is taking us,” Keith said. “We have some time, but we shouldn’t just sit around and wait. Are we in this together?”

The lanky one sighed. “Why not? It’s not like we have anything to lose at this point.”

“Except maybe dying sooner,” the big one muttered under his breath but his partner jabbed him quickly in the side. “Hey, I’m in, I’m just trying to be realistic.”

“The name’s Pidge, by the way,” the thief said. “If we’re working together, might as well get to know each other’s names, right?”

Keith nodded. “Keith.”

“I’m Lance, my buddy here is Hunk. You look like you already have a plan forming, Keith. Let’s hear it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay! Here we go with another story! I got inspired for this a while ago, but could only just now get to writing it. I love The Road to El Dorado and so this AU will definitely hold a special place in my heart. Obviously, I’m changing some things around, but that’s part of the fun.
> 
> Also, you might have noticed that there’s no pairings for this story, and I’m going to make it clear right here that there will never be pairings for this story. All of the relationships are going to be strictly platonic, but very, very close platonic. There will be things like platonic cuddling, platonic kissing, plenty of platonic “I love you”s, and lots and lots of platonic touching (possibly platonic sex but I’m sure about that at this moment). For the sake of this story, just assume everyone’s aromantic and go from there.
> 
> That’s all I have to say for now, so I’ll see you next time around!
> 
> And here’s a preview for the next chapter: “
> 
> "Big man, how good are you in a fight?”  
> “I’m alright,” Hunk admitted. “Are you really thinking about fighting them? They have guns, man, I don’t think we can…”  
> “We just need to attract the right attention,” Keith said. They’d had a certain visitor almost every day during their stay here. And they’d timed this escape with those visits. It was just about time, but they needed the right motivation. “Ready?”  
> “Ready,” the other three said at once, nodding. They all knew the risks. They could handle this. Just a few minutes of near-death and they would be safe and free.


	2. To Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Zarkon is bad at taking away his prisoners’ property and the team comes face-to-face with a deadly predator.

Lance whined as he turned over on his side. There were no beds, no pillows, no blankets, no nothing to help him sleep. Just some hard ground and the only sound the whirring of the ship as it moved through space. Sure, not living in a permanent place his entire life made him grow used to certain things. But he needed some sound or something to help him sleep. That and he was a bit sad that he didn’t have any of his normal beauty equipment. His face already felt so dry after a day. At least, it felt like a day…

“You have terrible taste in music,” Pidge noted and Lance immediately sat upright, looking with wide eyes as Pidge was fumbling through _his_ iPhone.

“When did you get that?” Lance snapped, trying to take the device away from her, but she kept it out of reach.

“I’m a thief, remember?” Pidge asked bluntly, still swiping through Lance’s song collection. He worked damn hard to win that iPhone and even harder to find songs and even a way to put it on there. Plus, she was wasting the battery even he didn't want to use. It was old tech, the iPhone 6, he thought. But it worked well. Lance’s hand went to his secret pocket, the one that _should_ be impossible to detect. At least it still felt like the map was there. Maybe Pidge didn’t think it was that important. “But, seriously, Lance, Shakira? Lady Gaga? _Nickleback_?”

“Wait I didn’t know about Nickleback,” Hunk said from where he was leaning against a wall. “Should I be concerned, Lance?”

“No,” Lance said pointedly. “And don’t knock them, some of their music is really good.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hunk snorted. “You can ‘look at this photograph’ all you want, but they’re never gonna be any good.”

“Ooh!” Pidge said with a little laugh and Lance got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What’s this? Are these movies, Lance?”

“Don’t you dare,” Lance said.

“Will you three be quiet?” Keith snapped. He was still at his position near the door, listening to the guards. Lance just rolled his eyes at him. “I’m still trying to go through with our plan.”

“We all are,” Pidge said with a shrug. “But we’re still waiting for the right moment. So, how about we watch The Notebook while we wait?” Lance could practically hear the smirk on her face.

“No way, nope, not gonna happen,” Lance said, taking advantage of the fact he had longer arms than her to reclaim his property. “We aren’t gonna just waste my battery when I don’t even know when I’ll be able to charge it next. Besides, that movie is for special times only, okay?”

“Special times?” Pidge raised a brow.

“Oh, yeah,” Hunk snorted. “You do not wanna disturb this guy when he’s watching his romance movies. Not only does he never _shut up-_ ”

“Okay, sorry for thinking logically when these people are acting like complete idiots,” Lance pouted.

“-but there was this one time I walked in and he was naked and-”

“Okay, we’re shutting up now!” Lance shouted, his face practically on fire. It was one thing to criticize the way he enjoyed his movies, it was another entirely to let out secrets like that.

“Oh, no, I’m curious,” Pidge said happily, leaning forward.

“If you shut up I might let you listen to some of my music,” Lance offered with a little sing-song voice, hoping that would actually do something.

“And, what, listen to Nickleback?” Pidge asked bluntly.

“There was another change of guard,” Keith said.

“So, what was that, like two hours?” Hunk offered. They all went off the base system of Earth time measurement, which made things a lot easier. “It’s been the same every time, so now we know when they have shift changes.”

Keith nodded. “Since it’s been about a day, from what we can tell, it doesn’t seem like they’ll change that.”

“Why can’t we just use the clock on Lance’s phone?” Pidge asked curiously.

“Dude, being in space for so long means that clock is totally busted,” Lance said. “Too much interference with everyone’s different satellites. Why can’t we use that tech thing on your arm? I’m surprised they didn’t even take that away from you.”

“Because it’s stealthy enough that I can hide it,” Pidge said proudly. “Besides, I’ve already hacked in here. They’ll be able to tell if I do it again in a matter of seconds.”

“What if we only need it for less than that?” Keith mused out loud. When he was met with silence, he continued. “If Pidge knows exactly where to go and exactly what to do, how long do you think it’ll take you to do the hack?”

“Knowing that will definitely take more than a few seconds,” Pidge said.

“How long until you think they’ll catch onto you?” Keith asked.

Pidge hummed, looking closely at her arm and her tech. “Maybe about 10, but that’s pushing it.”

“Can you do it more than once?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, maybe,” Pidge said with a smile. “If we can find any piece of tech in here that I can hook up to, then we can test out that theory. If that’s true, then I can just keep doing quick checks. I’ll be able to find out where to go.”

“No way, that’s awesome,” Lance said.

“Anyway you think you can hack into the mainframe to make sure we can actually get some things done?” Hunk asked. “You could have a code saved and use it so that you can still go undetected. Maybe even for longer.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Pidge said happily. “Depending on what I can do, I can even stay online longer than a few seconds, give myself more time!”

“Well, then what’s stopping us?” Lance asked. “Let’s get started.”

“Hunk, do you think you could help me get a logarithm?” Pidge asked. “I’ll need something and I don’t have a lot of experience with this tech, so it’ll be hit or miss…”

“I mean, I’ll do what I can,” Hunk said. “I’m a bit closer to an engineer, than a tech wiz…”

“Still,” Pidge said, loading up the screen on her arm. It was small and compact, but it looked like she had more than enough room to type on it.

“So…uh…what should I do?” Lance asked, finally getting up to walk over to Keith. “I’m not exactly good at this whole science thing. I’m more of a…physical activities kinda guy.”

“We’ll need a plan once we get out of this cell,” Keith offered. “Whether or not we can go undetected, we’ll need to get out past the guards and to an escape pod quickly. Then there’s the matter of getting far enough away from the ship that we won’t just be taken back immediately.”

“Well, getting through won’t be that difficult,” Lance said. “One great habit I’ve picked up is that I memorized the path we took through the whole ship. And I remember where I saw some escape pods. But there’s no way to tell how fast they’ll catch on. You’ve been listening to footsteps, how does guard change sound?”

“We’re alone for a few seconds,” Keith said. “Maybe forty-five seconds max. Do you think that’ll be enough time for us to at least get out of this hallway?” He had a fairly good memory, but the time he’d spent being arrested and forced through hallways was surrounded by so many people and so chaotic, he couldn’t stay focused. It was a wonder Lance could still remember everything.

“Plenty of time,” Lance said. “Only problem is we don’t know about the action of the guards outside of our little hallway. Meaning the last stretch to the escape pods is just a blank zone. We can get that far without even a single alarm. But if we even get seen on our way to the pods, red lights will go up everywhere and there’s no chance we can make it out of here.”

“That’s a risk we’re gonna have to take,” Keith said simply. Suddenly, he tensed, pressing his ear against the door. “Wait a second…what is…”

Lance immediately copied him, listening intently. It took a little while, but he finally heard it, too. He remembered that sound from yesterday…That was the lion, but it was alone. What was she doing here? Even with Pidge and Hunk whispering to themselves, Lance could clearly hear her. She was sniffing, trying to find something. Or maybe someone. Finally, she stopped right in front of their door. Lance and Keith shared a confused look, but didn’t say a word, almost afraid to miss something.

Lance nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the unmistakable sound of claws screeching against the metal of their door. Hunk and Pidge immediately fell silent and Lance could hear guards outside shouting. The lioness made a sound short of a roar before she finally left, with the help of the guards.

“Uh, guys, what was that?” Hunk asked.

“That lion was definitely looking for us,” Lance mused. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said. “But that…might be something we can use.”

* * *

“Alright, Pidge, are you ready to go?” Keith asked, listening to the door closely. It was just a few minutes before guard change. They would have to act fast. Or it just might mean instant death. Pidge nodded solemnly as she continued, hard at work on her portable computer. Lance and Hunk were ready to move, just like Keith. They only had one chance to do this right. And they’d been waiting for days for just this moment.

“Wait for my signal,” Pidge said. She finally connected the little cord on her device into a little section of the wall close to the door. It took them ages to find something she could plug into, but once they did, they were on the fast track to success. Everyone was silent as she worked, listening for any sound outside the cell. Anything that might mess up their plan.

“The guard is changing now,” Keith reported, hearing the footsteps. “It’s now or we wait another hour, Pidge.”

“Just one second,” Pidge muttered and, the door slid open in front of them. Everyone paused for a moment in disbelief, all except Pidge, who started forward. “Now.”

They started running. Keith glanced back in the direction the guards had gone, as if waiting to see another set coming to catch them. But it was empty. At least for the time being. Lance took the front; he knew the path better than even Hunk, who was also skilled at escapes. They stopped at a corner, Lance cautiously looking to see if there were any soldiers. This was their dark area, but they had to move forward, had to take this chance. Thankfully, there was nothing and so they continued on their way.

“There,” Lance whispered as they stopped at another corner. Keith looked as well, but quickly went flat against the wall. There were soldiers there. But at the end of a hallway was a doorway with a window on it, where he could see the escape pods. Or what looked like escape pods. Lance had probably seen more than enough of those in his life.

“What now?” Keith asked.

“If an alarm goes off now, we won’t have enough time to get out of here,” Pidge said. “I can disable the alarm that will go off with an escape pod, but only if we get in there first.”

“We’ll need a way to take them down without giving them enough time to call attention,” Hunk said.

“Okay,” Lance said. “How?”

“We’ll have to hope luck is on our side,” Keith said. He looked around the corner once again. The soldiers had their backs to them, giving them enough time to sneak up on them if they had to. There were four soldiers. “Big man, how good are you in a fight?”

“I’m alright,” Hunk admitted. “Are you really thinking about fighting them? They have guns, man, I don’t think we can…”

“We just need to attract the right attention,” Keith said. They’d had a certain visitor almost every day during their stay here. And they’d timed this escape with those visits. It was just about time, but they needed the right motivation. “Ready?”

“Ready,” the other three said at once, nodding. They all knew the risks. They could handle this. Just a few minutes of near-death and they would be safe and free.

“Let’s move,” Keith said, running forward. All four of them were quiet enough that the guards didn’t notice until Keith slammed his shoulder as hard as he could into one’s back. He stumbled just as the other four made contact as well. It would only be a matter of time before the guns were pointed at them. They had to act quickly and before they could set off an alarm.

“We better hope that lion doesn’t actually wanna kill us,” Lance grunted as he wrestled for the gun with the soldier he was going up against.

“Just shut up and trust me!” Keith shouted back, struggling as well to keep the guard facing the wrong direction. But it wasn’t going well. Soon, the guard had enough leverage to shove Keith off of his back and onto the ground. Keith grunted as he slammed hard, looking up as the gun was pointed right at his head. He was about ready to face the pain, but he heard a low growl before something colorful flashed in front of his eyes. He got to his feet quickly to see the lioness, Zarkon’s lioness, already tackling two other guards to the ground, unconscious like the first. Hunk, with the help of Lance and Pidge, were able to get the last one down.

No alarms. Keith let out a sigh, but now they were faced with another dilemma. The lion.

The four were quiet as the lioness finally looked up from her prey, thankfully not going any further than knocking them out. The lioness looked over the four of them before slowly walking up to Keith, looking over him as if to make sure he was really okay. Finally, as she was close enough to touch, she nuzzled her head into Keith’s stomach, letting out a low purr. Keith looked up at the other three, all of them with the same confused look.

“Well, didn’t expect that,” Lance said with a shrug. Keith hesitantly moved his hand to pat the lioness awkwardly. She seemed satisfied with that and stepped back, but she didn’t leave. “We need to get moving. Who knows when they’re gonna check in on these guys.”

“Right.” Keith nodded and they started moving again. The lioness simply followed them, waiting patiently as Pidge worked to open the door. She worked carefully and as quickly as she could all while staying out of notice. It was only a few seconds before they were inside, the lioness slipping in as well. She was now circling around the others as Pidge started working on a terminal.

“I mean, she is kinda cute,” Lance offered, petting her without any hesitation. Keith just raised a brow. That was a well-known predator on Earth. And she was in space? With those colors? Who knew how dangerous she could be or if she was still working with Zarkon? Lance was even able to slip his hand under her chin, stroking her. She seemed to enjoy it, nuzzling closer to him.

“Aw, no fair, I wanna cuddle the space lion,” Hunk said, going to stroke her back happily.

“We can’t take her with us,” Keith said. He was just being realistic. Sure, they could make it out on their own, but with the lion? If Zarkon had it and he kept it like he did, it was obviously a prized treasure, something he got off of a bounty from somewhere else. He would follow them if they just stole it.

“Oh, don’t be such a spoil sport,” Pidge said as she worked. “I’d say she’d make a great souvenir.”

“For who?” Keith asked. “We’re all going our separate ways after this is over.”

Lance pouted at that, petting the lioness slower. “Really? I thought maybe we kinda bonded. I mean we were in a tiny ass room together for a few days sharing food off the floor.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to stay around,” Keith said. “I don’t need reminders of how badly I messed up. And I like to keep moving.”

“Hey, so do we,” Lance protested.

“As long we keep moving a lot, I wouldn’t mind,” Pidge said. The door to one of the pods in the room opened, but no one in the room moved. “We’re ready to go. But, Keith, if you want to take your own pod, you can.”

Keith didn’t like the idea of moving around with people. He’d been alone pretty much his whole life and he knew from experience that trying to go through his line of work alone was the easiest way. Just one week in captivity wasn’t enough to change that. But, for some strange reason he couldn’t understand, Keith felt a strange pull to these people. Something he hadn’t felt for anyone he’d ever met. The idea of being near them felt…warm. And the idea of leaving them…forgetting about them, left him feeling very, very cold. And he didn’t want to go back to feeling that way.

When did he start thinking that way?

“Let’s move before they notice what we’re doing,” Keith said, walking into the pod. Lance let out a cheer and he and Hunk walked in after him, the lioness following close behind. “She really can’t come.”

“Oh, come on,” Lance said. “She obviously wants to come with us. And we need more muscle than just Hunk. No offense buddy but sometimes it’s a little too much for just you.”

“No, no, I get it,” Hunk said. “I’d love to have her around.”

“Pidge, hurry up!” Keith shouted, knowing he couldn’t get any logic through those two.

“Just gimme a second,” Pidge said. “We still have a whole minute left until they notice I’m here and I want to make sure of something.”

“Pidge, we don’t have that kind of time,” Keith protested. He just agreed to go with these people and now one of them wanted to risk her life?

“Just one piece of information, I’ve got this,” Pidge said. Her eyes went through her little screen quickly, reading as fast as she could. Finally, she bit her lip and disconnected, an obvious look of disappointment on her face as she ran into the pod. Lance hit a button and the door closed.

Pidge sat down at the control panel, messing with a few switches before the pod started moving.

“So…” Lance said, leaning against the back of her chair. “What were you looking for?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Pidge said, shaking her head. “Nothing important. I…uh…found out about our new friend. Her name is Voltron, spoils of war that Zarkon claimed as his own. He’s going to want her back, so once he finds out she’s missing…”

“Then we’ll have to make sure he won’t find us,” Keith said and the Lion happily nuzzled his side. He patted her head with a small sigh. “Anyone got any ideas about where to go? Preferably a planet no one’s been to before.”

“I have a thought,” Lance said, reaching into his jacket to pull out what looked like a star map.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting on the way of mirroring Road to El Dorado a bit closer. I’m not going to be following it exactly, naturally, but I bet it’s not extremely obvious it’s an au yet…Anyway, lots happened, really lame input of the lion but I’ve grown to love her as a character so I hope you guys will, too! Also, I know lions do not purr, but this is an alien lion so she can break the rules and act more like a cat.
> 
> Preview for next time:  
> “You know,” Hunk mused, flat on his back. It took a lot of effort for them to even get a few words out. Lance couldn’t even get his thoughts to work properly to even look at the map or his notes. He had nothing to do but sit around and wait for the air to run out. He was leaning against Voltron, Beyoncé’s lilting voice surrounding them, “this is always how I thought I’d die.”  
> “The lion’s a surprise,” Lance said.  
> “Any regrets?” Pidge asked. She was lying down completely on the seats on one side of the pod.  
> “I wish I had scammed more people,” Lance admitted. He wasn’t anywhere near as rich as he wanted to be. That was the whole reason he started his partnership with Hunk, anyway. So they could actually afford to live in this universe.  
> “Wish I met more creatures,” Hunk said simply. “Seeing that lion…really makes you think what else there is.”


	3. The Trail We Blaze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which four teenagers and a lion are alone together for two weeks in space with Lance's great taste in music.

“No way.”

“Yeah, no, not buying it.”

Lance stared at Keith and Pidge with a gaping mouth. His own friends(?) were questioning him like this? He’d told them all about the map and how it was pretty much the reason him and Hunk got arrested in the first place, and yet they doubted him this much?

“Come on, guys, where’s your sense of adventure?” Lance groaned.

“You want us to trust a star map we can’t read from an alien who bet it on a simple roll of the dice?” Pidge asked bluntly.

“Well yeah,” Lance muttered. Keith just turned around, making sure that the ship was still moving forward and away from Zarkon’s ship. They had to get a lot of distance between them before they could really relax. Voltron kept rubbing against Lance’s leg, but when he ignored her in favor of trying to convince everyone to go along with his plan, she turned to Hunk.

“We need to go someplace that actually exists,” Keith said pointedly.

“Who says Altea doesn’t exist?” Lance offered. “It’s only a myth because it’s been so long since someone went there.”

“Plus, we don’t even know how far away it is,” Pidge said. “None of us have any of the money we stole.”

“I earned my money,” Keith said, sounding actually offended.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Pidge said. “This ship doesn’t have warp drive capabilities, and we can’t get another one until we’re at least in another star system.”

“On top of that, we also don’t have any food provisions, very little water provisions,” Hunk mentioned. “And this ship has limited air supply.”

“We can’t just go chasing some fantasy,” Keith said.

“But just imagine what would happen if we do find it,” Lance said. “We could buy our own planet with that kind of money! We wouldn’t have to keep running!”

“Absolutely not,” Keith said. “Pidge, do you think you can look up what planets are in this system? We could make a quick pit stop to get some provisions.”

“Just a sec,” Pidge said, typing on her computer, which she had connected to a short while ago. “I’ll pull up a map and we can point out all the places we’ve already been.”

Just as she said, a map appeared on the screen and Lance continued pouting, looking down at his own map. He could make out a few details of where they should go, but he was trying to figure out the language. He’d seen a ton of different languages from his time travelling across planets, there had to be a language similar to this one he could base off of.

Lance looked back up to see Keith and Pidge pointing out the planets they’d already visited and he glanced at Hunk, who studied the map as well.

“So, we have a problem,” Hunk said. “Between the four of us, we’ve been to all of these planets.”

“Yeah, and Hunk and I definitely aren’t welcome back,” Lance said.

“On top of that, any humanoids on these planets are automatically suspicious,” Keith said. “Zarkon will find out our location in no time.”

“We also have another problem,” Pidge noted. “We don’t have enough power to make it to the closest solar system.”

It was silent again as they all looked between each other. Lance looked down at his map one more time before letting out a sigh, placing it on one of the seats before walking closer to the other two. He wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

“There’s gotta be a few planets or even some populated asteroids somewhere between us and the nearest system,” Lance said. “Pidge, go ahead and see if you can scan for some life forms. Keith, how much time to do we have until we’re dead in space?”

“We’ve got about four days,” Keith said. “If we reserve our power well and only use the thrusters when we absolutely have to. Life support will begin shutting down on day four, but we can make it a full 96 hours.”

“How far can we get in that time?” Hunk asked, standing up now and leaving Voltron on her own. “There’s also a chance I could jerry rig some of the stuff in here, stop sending power to systems we don’t need, and subvert it to where we need it.”

“There’s an asteroid,” Pidge said. “It’s maybe 100 hours out, but it’s out of the system. Anyone been to it?” The map zoomed into an asteroid, a really long distance from the closest planet in the system. When everyone shook their heads, Pidge smiled. “Alright, and asteroids as small as this one are already full of shady people. No one will call us out, at least not until there’s a bounty.”

“Let’s get going,” Keith said, turning their escape pod slightly. “Hunk, see if you can start on what you were talking about. Think you can work four hours out of it?”

“Definitely,” Hunk said, already looking around for a panel he could open up.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance said. “You think you got enough power to try looking up something for me?”

“I swear, Lance, if it’s about that map of yours,” Pidge said.

“Please,” Lance said. “It’ll only take a second. I know no one’s been able to find Altea but I’m wondering…do you think you can look up some stuff on the Altean language? Not even a translator, but just something I can compare these symbols to?”

“I’ll give you a few minutes,” Pidge said, already typing. “But after that, no more. We really need to save energy if we’re gonna make it to that asteroid.”

“A few minutes is all I need,” Lance said happily. He reached into his hidden pocket, pulling out a pen, something he found was always essential to keep with him. While Pidge set to work, Lance went back to his map, turning it over to the blank side. If he could get enough notes on the Altean language, he could get to work translating. If they were about to have a hundred hours ahead of them, he might as well use them productively.

“Alright, hurry up,” Pidge said and Lance nearly ran over to her screen, trying to soak up the information. Thankfully, there were quite a few barely translated runes and other things people across the universe had found and kept on databases. He had no way of knowing if he could get a full alphabet, but this would be more than helpful.

* * *

“Hey, how come I never get to steer?” Lance asked conversationally, happily scratching behind one of Voltron’s ears as she slept. He giggled when she twitched slightly.

“Because I don’t trust you at the wheel?” Keith offered.

“Why not?” Lance asked. “I mean, I don’t even know where I’m going with this stupid map, so I won’t take us off course.” The map laid on the ground in front of him, already covered in notes as he tried desperately to translate. Granted, he couldn’t get it into English, but there were a few dialects he knew enough about that he could figure it out from there. “Besides, you’re bound to get tired and sleep eventually, don’t we need someone to steer?”

“I’ll give it to Pidge,” Keith said stubbornly. “We need to make sure we go through an exact amount of power.”

“And, what, you expect me to just launch full speed?” Lance scoffed. “You need to learn to relax and actually trust me.” Hunk and Pidge were asleep, Pidge leaning on the larger of the two as they sat on some of the chairs. Lance was already feeling tired and fairly hungry, but he would have to learn how to live with it. He was just thankful that they were given food and water as prisoners so that they could actually survive the whole trip to this asteroid.

“It’s fine, just keep looking into your map,” Keith said simply and Lance huffed, looking back down at the map.

“Whatever, mullet,” Lance grumbled. “I’m just saying, I’d be the best pilot.”

“I doubt that,” Keith said. “Look, don’t take any offense. You’re pretty useful on your own, just for different things. Like your memory and, if it turns out you can actually translate that map, I’ll be impressed.”

Lance couldn’t stop the small smile that appeared on his face at that. Keith was normally very straight to the point, he’d learned, and definitely didn’t give compliments out of nowhere, so it felt kind of nice.

“I’d still like to fly this thing,” Lance said, looking closer at the runes he was studying. He was making some headway on one of the stars farthest away from the planet he assumed was Altea at the end. It would only get harder to focus from here as it got harder to breathe and they all got hungrier and thirstier.

* * *

“Anyone tell you how comfy you are, Hunk?” Lance asked, leaning against his best friend. He was exhausted, his eyelids drooping, but he wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep yet.

“You’re wasting oxygen,” Keith pointed out and Lance rolled his eyes. Keith was leaning against Hunk, too, but whatever. Everyone’s breaths were starting to grow more labored and it made everyone nervous, but no one said it out loud. No one even entertained the thought that they might die in this stupid pod.

“I think you’re the only one to tell me that, Lance,” Hunk said happily.

“I second it,” Pidge said from her spot at the helm. “Best sleep I’ve ever had.”

“You guys are too nice,” Hunk said, a small blush on his face.

“Love ya, man,” Lance said with a bright smile, lightly elbowing Hunk in the side.

“Go to sleep, Lance,” Keith said, obviously exhausted. “You need your strength.”

Lance yawned. “Fine, fine. Party pooper…”

* * *

“I think,” Lance panted. “We need…a little pick-me-up.”

“Agreed,” Pidge said, her voice quiet. Everyone was awake, almost afraid to fall asleep. They were starving, parched, exhausted, and they could all practically feel the lack of oxygen left for them. Keith was steering once again and Lance didn’t bother asking how close they were. “What song?”

“I suggest,” Lance paused for a moment, thinking through his options. He didn’t even bother trying to fight it, Pidge would always steal his phone and manage to break any password he put on there. “Beyoncé.”

“Great choice,” Pidge said with a small smile. It took a little bit of scrolling n her part, but eventually a song filled the air (or lack thereof) and Lance couldn’t help but smile. Pidge went back a long ways, all the way to Single Ladies, but Lance wasn’t about to complain. If he was gonna die, he might as well do it to her lovely voice.

“You two are ridiculous,” Keith scoffed, but Lance could see his feet moving to the beat.

* * *

“You know,” Hunk mused, flat on his back. It took a lot of effort for them to even get a few words out. Lance couldn’t even get his thoughts to work properly to even look at the map or his notes. He had nothing to do but sit around and wait for the air to run out. He was leaning against Voltron, Beyoncé’s lilting voice surrounding them, “this is always how I thought I’d die.”

“The lion’s a surprise,” Lance said.

“Any regrets?” Pidge asked. She was lying down completely on the seats on one side of the pod.

“Guys,” Keith said simply, but everyone ignored him. This conversation was important, final farewells.

“I wish I had scammed more people,” Lance admitted. He wasn’t anywhere near as rich as he wanted to be. That was the whole reason he started his partnership with Hunk, anyway. So they could actually afford to live in this universe.

“Wish I met more creatures,” Hunk said simply. “Seeing that lion…really makes you think what else there is.”

“Guys.”

“I wish I could’ve found my family,” Pidge muttered and Lance looked over at her. She had a frown on her face. “They were taken prisoner by Zarkon…a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance said. Now he felt bad for what his regret was…

“Guys.”

“Keith,” Lance snapped. “We’re having…a moment. You could at least join us in our last moments.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Keith said simply and Lance watched with wide eyes as the door to the pod opened up, air flooding into their systems. Everyone gaped as Voltron happily got up, all but running outside to get a proper stretch. When Lance looked back at Keith, he had an annoyingly happy smirk on his face. “Maybe you should learn to listen to me,” Keith said happily and Lance rolled his eyes, slowly getting up as he folded his map.

“How much time did we even have left?” Hunk asked.

“Two hours,” Keith said. “Give or take. With all the talking everyone did, we went through oxygen a bit quicker than we calculated.”

“Wait, hey Pidge,” Lance said, looking up at Pidge as she shut off his phone, tossing it back to him. “Your family…I mean, we could maybe-”

“Forget I said anything,” Pidge said with a small smile, before going to join Voltron. Lance shared a look with Hunk and Keith, a silent agreement to definitely not forget about it. Right now, they had other problems to look into. No one had any money, but they needed food, water, and fuel.

“Time to get to work,” Keith said, walking outside. “I’d rather not stay here for long, so let’s work quickly.”

“Hunk and I can easily get enough money for whatever we need,” Lance said. It was definitely easier to con people than gamble. Looking around, Lance could tell that there really wasn’t much to this asteroid. Some ships littered around and some buildings. Didn’t look like the biggest gambling crowd, especially compared to their last planet.

“If you guys are quick, I could go ahead and steal all the power cells we’ll need to keep us going for a while,” Pidge said. “That way we can get on the road before anyone realizes what they’re missing.”

“I can find out where we are,” Keith said. “Maybe find an actual map. If we’re lucky, there’s an actual planet nearby and we can lie low for a while, make sure Zarkon really isn’t trying to find us.”

“Sounds great,” Lance said happily, leading Hunk with him towards a building that looked like it housed food. His stomach gave a violent twist, more than ready to eat. “Keith, I think you should take Voltron, she’ll attract way too much attention to all of us.”

Keith nodded, patting Voltron to keep her close to him while the others left. Lance couldn’t wait to con someone again. It was almost an addictive feeling; the adrenaline, the money in his hands…It was thrilling. He could get more than enough money for food and water with enough left over to last them on the next planet. The only problem was doing it so they wouldn’t get caught and chased off the planet. That was never fun…

* * *

Lance had a bad habit of getting himself noticed. Keith was able to get information fairly easy. Apparently people really opened up to you when you had a lion at your side. He was able to find out not only the name of the asteroid they were on, but also some of the nearby planets, which ones were habitable for humanoids like them, as well as Zarkon’s presence in the area, which was pretty low, thankfully. Maybe they could stay in this system for a while, wait it out. It was good to know they wouldn’t have to keep running. He wasn’t entirely sure how long he could last in a pod with three other people and a lion. It was bad enough trying to figure out what to do with all of their waste.

Sadly, however, it seemed like Lance had a knack for pissing people off. Keith had barely made it back to their pod before he could see Lance and Hunk already running for them.

“What did you do this time?” Pidge asked from where she stood, leaning against the pod.

“Nothing!” Lance protested, panting as he ran up to them, Keith joining them at the same time as Hunk. “But we should probably get going really quickly. Everyone get what we need?” Keith took notice of the bag Pidge had that she didn’t have before, filled with what looked like power cells, plenty for what they needed to travel around.

“Looks like we’re good,” Keith said. Lance and Hunk had their own bags, hopefully full of food. Keith was already feeling weak. It was a wonder Lance and Hunk could even run in their condition. He noticed what looked like the small police force on the asteroid already running towards them and rolled his eyes, shoving the two inside. Pidge went on her own accord and Keith noticed Voltron was growling, already in a fighting stance. Good to know they had her loyalty, but now was not the time to fight. Surely, she was feeling weak as well.

“It’s alright, let’s get inside,” Keith assured her, patting between her shoulders carefully. She seemed to understand him, slowly sulking inside, but still looking out at the police force. Keith quickly walked inside, sitting at the seat again. He scrunched up his nose at the smell, but there wasn’t exactly anything they could do about it at this rate. They needed a long period of time to relax, bathe, and properly sleep.

It didn’t take long to get them back up into space, a safe distance away from being apprehended once again. Keith let out a deep breath before everyone turned to glare at Lance, including Hunk.

“What? We got you guys food like you asked,” Lance said, offering his bag. “And water, too. So…really, you’re welcome.”

“What did you do?” Keith asked.

“I told you that we should have quit while we were ahead,” Hunk said simply. “This is just like the map.”

“Okay, yeah, but everyone’s fine, realx,” Lance said, leaning back. “I think we should focus on eating and getting our strength back.”

“Lance, I swear,” Keith said simply. “If you pull something like this again…I’ll send Voltron after you.”

“I feel so threatened,” Lance said simply.

“What food did you guys even get?” Pidge asked curiously.

“Don’t worry, I made sure we didn’t get anything that we can’t handle,” Hunk said. “And we shouldn’t eat much. We have some stuff that looks like grains, some vegetables, I assume. Easy stuff to go down.”

“I feel like eating everything,” Lance groaned.

“Do that and you’re cleaning up your own vomit,” Keith said bluntly. “I’ll take some while we get moving to the next planet.”

“Oh, yeah, did you figure out the name of this asteroid?” Lance asked curiously, pulling out some food and handing some over to Keith. When Keith said the name absently, Lance paused for a moment before pulling out the map from his pocket.

“What, you find something?” Pidge asked curiously, drinking the water, but doing it carefully so that she didn’t drink too much. Keith barely managed to think that clearly as he drank his own. He just wanted to chug all of the water, eat everything at once, but he knew that was dangerous. This wasn’t exactly his first time practically starving.

“Okay, okay, not gonna lie, guys,” Lance said with a small smile as he looked through his map. “But that asteroid is totally the first thing on this map.”

“We’re still not going to Altea,” Keith said bluntly.

“Oh, come on,” Lance groaned. “We’re far away from Zarkon, now that I know where I’m going it won’t take very long, and there are plenty of planets along the way. We’re totally not in danger anymore and if we want to just stop at one of the planets on the way, we can.”

“I’m interested,” Hunk offered.

“Okay, but if this planet is so easy to find, how come no one has?” Pidge asked. “It’s gotta be pretty far off the solar system.”

“Or maybe the people on the nearby planets have all died off?” Lance offered. “I mean, there’s gotta be a reason no one’s found Altea in so long. Maybe the people in that system died off. But there’s bound to be plenty of resources. And if we can make it all the way to this asteroid on no food and barely any fuel, then we can totally make it there.”

“No,” Keith said bluntly.

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Pidge said thoughtfully. Keith glared at her. If Hunk wasn’t going to be the voice of reason and neither was she, who else was left? “I mean, Gold takes a really long time to erode away. Could you imagine how much money we could get with all that gold? We’d be able to get our own ship, pay off some of the bounties on our heads. Who knows. It’s worth a stop by, at least. Now that it’s not a life or death situation, anything’s possible.”

“Looks like you’re outvoted,” Lance said with a smirk. Keith just shook his head, turning forward. He ate a little of the food he had.

“Just tell me where to go,” Keith said simply.

* * *

“Okay, so none of this is gonna translate into English, but,” Lance kept on talking to Keith and Hunk eventually just drowned them out with his own thoughts. He was lying on the floor of their pod, head comfortable against Voltron’s sleeping body. Pidge was lying with him, fast asleep. It had been a few days and they could finally say that their stomachs were full again. They’d managed to make a few other pit stops without anyone causing much of a commotion (but Lance seemed to attract too much attention everywhere) and it was calm. It was nice.

For most of Hunk’s life, he was on edge, ready to move at all times, and never staying in the same place twice. The only thing that was a constant in his life was Lance, but sometimes even then he was scared that would change. He always had trouble sleeping, and he always felt like he was on the run. But now it felt like home, felt like he could just stay like this forever. It was so, so nice.

Even with the bickering behind him between Lance and Keith, it felt good, natural. Like this was all supposed to be happening. Hunk couldn’t be happier. He just wanted to hug everyone, keep them close and safe, make sure this moment was never ruined. Let them just travel through space for eternity, never caught just…happy.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Keith said bluntly.

“Yeah, well, that’s because maybe some alien languages don’t translate to English, like I said,” Lance said pointedly. “Look, what I’m saying is that we need that star to our right.”

“That takes us the completely opposite direction we were going before,” Keith said.

“No, it doesn’t,” Lance pressed. “You have to trust me here, okay? I know what I’m doing.”

“You only got that map a little over a week ago,” Keith said.

“Yeah and that’s plenty of time to understand it,” Lance said. “Come on, if we get lost, we can find our way back, but I know we need to go that way.”

“This Altea better be filled to the brim with gold,” Keith muttered under his breath. Hunk smiled, letting himself fall asleep again.

* * *

“There’s nothing here,” Pidge said simply, looking over Keith’s shoulder as she looked over the screen. There was really nothing there, at least not that they could see. It had been maybe two weeks since this little adventure of theirs started and honestly Pidge was excited to see this famed planet of gold, but so far? She was left a little disappointed.

“Well, it’s around here,” Lance said simply, nose deep in his map, glancing up occasionally. He stood beside Hunk while an annoyed Keith steered them around. His patience was wearing thin as they stayed in the same place, Pidge could tell. But she had to admit, humoring Lance and going on this adventure was kind of fun. This was some of the stuff Pidge had been missing out on while she had been alone. She’d been so focused on finding her family, she almost forgot how to have fun. And travelling the universe with three other misfits, a lion, and some really shitty music was definitely fun.

“Are you sure?” Pidge asked, looking closer and adjusting her glasses, as if that would actually help her. “Because I’m not seeing anything.”

“Okay, well, there’s a sun in this system so it’s gotta be somewhere,” Lance said. “Now let me focus. I’ve got this.”

“I’m giving you ten minutes before we leave,” Keith said bluntly and Lance scoffed, his face looking like he’d been slapped.

“Excuse me?” Lance scoffed.

“Oh, next could we do an adventure for me?” Hunk asked with a smile. “There’s this one planet I’ve always wanted to see, it’s completely underwater and would be totally cool!”

“Traitor,” Lance mumbled under his breath. Pidge smirked, but kept scanning around anyway. They came all the way out here, they had to find at least one souvenir. But as she kept looking, it was starting to seem that Lance really was wrong after all. A bit of a bummer, really, but what could you do?

“Wait…” Pidge mused, narrowing her eyes as she saw something. There, on the other side of the sun. She’d only started seeing it as they moved through the system, but there was definitely some planet there. “What’s that?”

“Maybe that’s it,” Hunk said.

“Only one way to find out,” Lance said happily.

Keith moved them forward and everyone waited with baited breath. Normally, it would take a while to move through a system, but Pidge had been able to steal some really good equipment and set up their little pod with something a bit shy of a warp drive. They could be all the way across the system in minutes, even if they had to go around the sun. Voltron yawned behind them as she woke up from her little nap. She nudged Pidge’s back and she responded by reaching back at patting her head. Pidge knew she should have been a bit more scared of the predator, a bit more cautious, but honestly this lion had plenty of opportunities to hurt or eat them. She was starving with the rest of them, and yet she was calm and docile. Maybe it was Zarkon’s training or just her nature, but Pidge could trust her without even looking at her.

“Well, it doesn’t look like gold,” Pidge said as they started coming into the planet. It looked mostly green, like it was predominantly made up of forest or jungle. But planets were always more than what they seemed.

“It’s the only planet we’ve seen in this system,” Lance said. “Let’s head down.”

“Hold on,” Keith said. “There are no satellites here, we haven’t seen another ship in days, and there’s no way to tell what’s inhabiting it.”

“Oh, are you scared?” Lance asked with a smirk.

“I’m not scared,” Keith snapped. “But we need to think about this. Maybe there’s really no one left on there, or maybe it’s a race of aliens that have been cut off from the rest of the universe.”

“Well, it won’t do us any good to just sit around and wait,” Lance said. “If they really haven’t left their planet in a while, then they can’t exactly follow us if we just leave. So that’s our backup plan.”

“We’ve been taking risks this whole time, why stop now?” Pidge mused.

“Hunk?” Keith asked, looking back at Hunk, who just shrugged. Keith sighed, outnumbered once again, and turned around. But Pidge could tell that he was a little excited, too. His hands were a little shaky, and he had this look in his eyes, a sense of determination Pidge had seen before. Oh, yeah, definitely excited.

It was only a matter of minutes until they entered the atmosphere and Keith found a place to land. Even Voltron was starting to get excited. They’d been cooped up in this pod for so long, Pidge was dying to stretch out in the foreign sun. If they were lucky, they could find something soon and they could get a bigger ship. That was the dream. With a bigger ship they could also go around the universe a lot quicker, take on actual ships. Maybe she really could find her family.

The door of the pod opened and she shook her head. Not the time to let herself get distracted by that. Voltron was the first to bound outside, happily running between the nearby trees. Definitely jungle. It was hot, humid, and muggy. There was a lot of mud and a lot, a lot of green.

“Still not seeing any Gold,” Pidge mused. They hadn’t seen any on their descent. If there was gold here, these Alteans were really good at hiding it.

“We only just got here, Pidge,” Lance said with a smirk. “You gotta learn to trust me.”

“Let’s get moving,” Keith said. “We’ve got enough provisions to last us a few days here with enough to get us to the nearest populated planet.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Lance asked. “We could hunt something here, or pick fruit or something.”

“You don’t even know what’s toxic,” Keith said, nodding into the forest. "Your map tell us about how to get around the planet?”

“Um, no,” Lance said, the map already folded and placed in his ‘secret’ pocket. “Only how to get here. Figured the gold would be more obvious than this, but oh, well. What are ya gonna do?”

“Then let’s get moving,” Keith said. “Pidge, your computer can track the pod and get us back here if we’re lost, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Pidge said. That was, like, one of the first upgrades she gave to it. She wasn’t an amateur.

“This is so exciting,” Hunk said happily as they started walking into the cover of the trees.

* * *

“This is so not exciting,” Hunk said, plopping down on the roots of a large tree as they stopped. Everyone was tired, hot, sweaty, and definitely not in the best of moods. Totally not Lance’s fault, he had no idea where he was going. Pidge was half asleep, riding on Voltron’s back. Keith looked around ready to kill someone, probably Lance. And Lance was leaning against a tree, more than ready for some water, maybe a snack.

“We should head back,” Keith said simply. “The sun’s starting to set and it’ll be safer for us to sleep in the pod.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Lance said. He was up for anything at this point.

“And tomorrow, we’re leaving this planet,” Keith said and Lance groaned.

“Seriously, you’re still going on about this?” Lance asked. “Come on, dude, don’t be such a party pooper.”

“I’m up for leaving,” Hunk said, raising his hand and Lance put a hand on his heart. His own friend… “Come on, dude, no one here was really prepared for an all day hike through a jungle planet.”

“Yeah, but only one day is definitely not enough to find what we’re looking for,” Lance grumbled. “You guys are barely giving this a chance. When we get to go on your adventures, I’ll go all out, too.”

“So, we really are doing those adventures?” Pidge asked happily. “I have a few ideas about where to go.”

“Nope, no adventures if everyone just gives up on me,” Lance said pointedly. He was being childish, sure, but he was tired. He really needed some sleep…

“Look, man, we gave it a shot,” Hunk said with a shrug. “But right now? I’m tired. Maybe we can talk about it more in the morning, after we’ve all rested.”

Suddenly, Voltron went on high alert. She grew tense and she bared her fangs, letting out a low growl. Pidge sat up with wide eyes as Voltron faced somewhere in the forest, clearly ready to pounce at any second. Everyone stayed quiet, looking where she faced. Lance readied himself for a fight if he had to. If Voltron was acting this way, it was definitely not good.

Before long, he could hear the sound of someone running, not even caring for the wildlife around them. There was some grunting as they tripped over some stuff, but they didn’t stop. They were in a hurry. Before long, he heard a lot of other footsteps as well. Was this person being chased?

Lance didn’t even get a chance to look at his friends before someone came bursting through the trees, stumbling to a stop as he saw just who was in front of him. It was…a man. Well, humanoid at least. He was built like a freaking powerlifter and his face was definitely pretty pleasing to look at. But he looked terrified, his eyes wide. His black hair had this weird little tuft of white (maybe it was an Altean thing?), and…was that a mechanical arm?

The man’s eyes searched over all of them, before stopping predominantly on Voltron, who grew even more tense. If he was surprised to see Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge, he was completely taken aback to see Voltron. Did he recognize her? Lance couldn’t even ask a single question before more people came flooding into their little clearing. They were obviously soldiers with guns poised at the ready.

What the hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, we’re stopping here! Sorry, I just wanted this whole chapter to basically be “The Trail We Blaze” and it was going on for so long! Oh, well, it was fun! Lots of stuff on their relationship and how they actually survived. And we’re finally on Altea and we finally met Shiro! Isn’t that exciting? The second I came up with this AU, I decided he definitely had to be Chel, like no questions asked. 
> 
> That’s it for now, but take a preview for next time: “Yeah!” Lance agreed happily, really liking the authority that came with being a God. Honestly, he felt like he was born for this job. “Do not question us!”
> 
> “Or we’ll have to smite you with our…” Hunk chimed in, “awesome, incredible power.”
> 
> “And you wouldn’t like that,” Lance said proudly. Yeah, rule with some fear, that was a good idea.
> 
> “Oh, yes, we would,” Haggar said excitedly and Lance practically stopped in his tracks. He was not anticipating that at all. “Prove to us your Godly strength! Show us the truth of your divinity!”
> 
> “Yes, divinity!” Keith interrupted them before Lance could make the situation even worse. “One moment.” Keith hardly pulled Lance into a tight circle with all four of them, whispering to him now. “Do you have a death wish?”


	4. Mighty and Powerful Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance's tendency to speak without thinking actually saves the team for once.

Everything happened so fast, but at the same time so slow. Keith had no way of knowing what was going on. One minute, they were the only lifeforms for miles, the next they were surrounded by humanoid aliens, all of them pointing guns towards them. But they weren’t firing. That was why Keith stood in front of Voltron, trying to keep her calm and from attacking them. They were all quiet for a while, in a stare down. But everyone was looking at Voltron in shock and surprise.

“Would you believe me if I said we were tourists?” Lance asked, shattering the silence with his usual grace. Keith turned to glare at him and Lance just shrugged. They didn’t know if these people spoke English, or any of the common dialects that formed out of it over the years.

The man that had come through first simply sighed heavily as the soldiers (or whatever they were) took hold of him. He barely fought against them and Keith noticed that they took something from his hands…something shiny. Something Gold. Lance seemed to catch onto it as well, but no one had a chance to say anything before the guards nodded further into the forest, making it clear with their rifles that everyone was going to walk.

“I guess they haven’t heard of tourists,” Hunk whispered and Keith groaned. He patted Voltron, though he was a little hesitant with her still on edge. She still looked ready to pounce, bearing her teeth every once in a while if a guard got too close. Keith had to admit, he was extremely hesitant to just follow these people, especially so close to sundown. But they really, really had no choice.

They stayed quiet as they were forced through the jungle, up until they were lead to a cave. Keith kept close to Voltron and Hunk started helping him out. Being in such an enclosed space was bound to make her extremely antsy. At first, they were shrouded in darkness, but once the soldiers started lighting lamps on their way through, Keith found himself completely speechless. It was no wonder they hadn’t seen any gold yet, it was completely lining the caves. The walls, the ceiling, the floor…it was almost entirely gold. When Keith looked at the others, he saw the same smile mirrored on his own face.

This was the planet of gold.

The only problem now was how they were going to make it out of here with Gold in hand.

* * *

Shiro was angry. Mostly with himself. He knew better than to go through with something without a proper plan. But he had kind of figured he could have made it farther away than he did. He probably would have if he hadn’t stopped. But it wasn’t like he could help it.

He glanced back at that lion. There was no way it was actually real, actually on this planet. It was…well, to put it simply it was a God. That lion with that exact color pattern was all over their scriptures, all over their murals, even the scientists worshipped it. And the other Gods that came with it. Naturally, there were countless Gods in the heavens, so it wasn’t strange to think that those four with the lion would also be Gods. Not to mention having this sighting coupled with that streak across the sky was rather compelling.

The only problem? Shiro had never considered himself a believer of the Gods. Especially recently.

If they weren’t Gods, then they were definitely aliens. Shiro had never been alive during the time of space exploration, but there was a reason Altea didn’t interfere with matters outside of the atmosphere. So Shiro was on edge about them, but he could make this work in his favor. He could figure how the other Alteans would react to these people, these “Gods”. And eventually, these people would want a way out. And Shiro would have to make sure he found his way onto that way out.

Before long, they reached the end of the maze of tunnels that had taken Shiro so long to get through the last time. The soldiers kept tight grips on his arms, but he knew he could get away if he wanted to. They’d taken away what little gold he’d taken with him (honestly he wasn’t sure what he planned on doing with it but running away was a good start) and he was left defenseless. He had to get onto these aliens’ good sides quickly so he could actually continue with his plan. He just wasn’t sure exactly how to do that yet.

Coming into the capital, everyone was waiting with wide eyes, looking at the newcomers. When the light streaked across the sky and the loud sound had been made, the guards had been scattered to search for what it could be. Most people didn’t study history and hardly any knew about a time when Altea branched out across the galaxy. They knew only their own planet, most didn’t even know there were other planets. Everyone thought it had to be a spiritual visit.

The newcomers looked absolutely stunned by everything they saw. Shiro almost wished he could see the city through their eyes. Wished he could see it with wonder and happiness, see the liveliness in the crowds he knew he once enjoyed. But he couldn’t. There was nothing left here for him to wonder at. Just sour memories he’d rather forget but knew he couldn’t. As well as some memories he’d already forgotten and didn’t want back.

He could already see the princess in front of the palace, which stood at the very center of the city. She must have had quite a few mixed emotions about this. Seeing the Gods…and seeing that Shiro had tried to run away. He didn’t want to face her, or even look at her. It was only a matter of minutes before Shiro was forced to kneel by the soldiers in front of the princess and the advisor. He was a secondary matter to deal with, they would discuss the Gods first.

What Shiro didn’t expect or notice was that the witch was there. And was the first one to speak.

“Just as I predicted, princess,” Haggar spoke, her ragged voice causing Shiro to freeze, his stomach to plummet, his brain to stop, his heart to speed up. He tried to stand, but was forced to stay sitting. Part of him wanted to look up at her, but another part was screaming at him to not do it. He could already guess the expression on her face, the smug look of pride… “The Gods have come as a blessing with the final return of the Year of the Lion.”

“I see…” Princess Allura mused. Her voice in itself was naturally calming and, with all the time Shiro had spent with her “recovering” it did help him relax automatically, but it wasn’t enough. His legs were shouting at him to get up and run, to try escaping again. That if he died in the process it wouldn’t be too big of a loss. He shook his head furiously, chasing away those thoughts. He had to calm down. But knowing _she_ was right there…he couldn’t do it.

The royal advisor, Coran, spoke up next, speaking loud enough that it sounded like he was addressing the Gods. “My Lords, your presence graces us.”

Shiro looked back at the strangers, who seemed absolutely stunned. If they were smart, they could go with this, keep the lie going. They seemed smart enough to figure that out on their own. Shiro could only help so much. Sitting in that position only made him want to leave more. Made him start coming up with a plan to get them out of there. To get him as far away as possible.

The group looked at each other quickly and Shiro braced himself for what would come next.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” one of them spoke up, “truly a pleasure to, uh, grace.” Shiro let out a small sigh. Maybe he should rethink this plan of his.

“I am Princess Allura,” the princess spoke up, stepping forward to address the “Gods” personally. “Coran is my advisor and Haggar is my high priestess. What may we call you?”

“The name’s Lance, beautiful,” the first one spoke again, but he was promptly elbowed in the side by one of the others. They shared a short, mutual glare with each other.

“Ignore him. I’m Keith.”

“Pidge,” The small one still on the back of the lion said simply. It seemed like some of their group was a little hesitant with the idea, but they had more or less agreed with it.

“Uh, I’m Hunk,” the last one said, albeit a little nervously, raising his hand slightly.

“And they call us…” Lance paused for a second, “Voltron.”

That caused Shiro to pause. There was no way an outsider could know something like that…Shiro was just hoping that the group would be smart enough to stay quiet long enough for the princess to give them the name of their Gods. Though their individual, true names were unknown, untranslatable into their language, they were always referred to with one word. Voltron.

But how did these strangers know that?

Allura smiled happily at them, a true smile, one that Shiro hadn’t really seen in years. “Lovely. We are honored to have you in our presence, my Lords. We hope your stay in Altea will be truly enjoyable.”

Finally, the moment came that Shiro was absolutely dreading. Haggar finally placed her full attention on him, silently commanding the soldiers to stand him up. Though he stood quite a height taller than her, he couldn’t help but feel small when standing face-to-face with her.

“And what of this thief?” Haggar asked simply, that proud smirk firmly on her face. Shiro struggled to keep himself calm and not do anything reckless. “He stole gold from the temple and attempted to run away with it. How should he be punished?”

When Shiro looked at Allura, he could tell that she was torn. Why wouldn’t she be? He’d only made a nuisance of himself in the past few months, only damaged whatever relationship they had before. And this definitely wasn’t the first time he’d tried to run away, though this was the first time he’d stolen something in the process.

“I am not a thief, my lords,” Shiro blurted out. Stealing was a high offense, stealing from the Gods and their temple was even higher. He wasn’t about to be imprisoned for this stupid mistake and he knew how to save his own skin. “The Gods sent me a vision to bring gold from the temple and guide them here.” The “Gods” looked at him in confusion for only a moment and Shiro sent them a silent plea. This would be stooping a little low, but it was necessary… “My only wish is to serve the Gods.”

“As he says,” Lance was the first to speak again and Shiro relaxed, refusing to look at Haggar. “No harm done, right?”

“Then it would be wise to return this,” Haggar said, taking the gold from the soldiers and forcing it into Shiro’s hands, making a point to touch his prosthetic. Shiro tensed, but tried not to let it show, “to its rightful place.”

Shiro said nothing to her. He hadn’t said a word to her for months, and he made a point to keep it that way. But he did leave, grateful to be away from that stressful situation. He went inside the castle, but it was almost completely empty. Everyone was outside at the idea of the Gods arriving. Everyone wanted to marvel at them. He was grateful for that, allowed himself to stop holding himself back. He started shaking, allowed his strong façade to drop.

He hadn’t counted on seeing Haggar again, but he had to stay on guard. Couldn’t show that kind of weakness. Step one was over, he’d saved himself. Now he had to gain the favor of the “Gods”.

* * *

Lance was feeling pretty damn good about himself. First off, he was a God now, which was pretty freaking cool. Second, he’d just pretty much saved that guy’s life, whoever he was. This day was going way better than he planned it would and he couldn’t be happier. The way he saw it, it was a good thing to be considered Gods to these people. Being Gods meant special treatment, and tribute. Lots and lots of tribute. And, if they were lucky, maybe these Alteans could give them a way off their planet, build them a ship or something. They just had to play their cards right. And considering how good of con artists Lance and Hunk were as well as the fact that Keith was a pretty damn good gambler and Pidge was a thief, he had a feeling they could make it out of this place with plenty of gold in their hands.

“My Lords.” Ah, yes, and then there was the bonus of the incredibly beautiful princess. Honestly, Lance could look at her all day without getting bored. Not that plenty of other people in this place weren’t equally as gorgeous (that thief who he had saved for example was also beautiful as all hell). Another great perk of staying there and being treated like Gods… “Why have you only waited until now to visit us?”

“My princess,” the priestess, Haggar (one of the less beautiful people on the planet, honestly) said, “all due respect, but you do not question the Gods.”

“Yeah!” Lance agreed happily, really liking the authority that came with being a God. Honestly, he felt like he was born for this job. “Do not question us!”

“Or we’ll have to smite you with our…” Hunk chimed in, “awesome, incredible power.”

“And you wouldn’t like that,” Lance said proudly. Yeah, rule with some fear, that was a good idea.

“Oh, yes, we would,” Haggar said excitedly and Lance practically stopped in his tracks. He was not anticipating that at all. “Prove to us your Godly strength! Show us the truth of your divinity!”

“Yes, divinity!” Keith interrupted them before Lance could make the situation even worse. “One moment.” Keith hardly pulled Lance into a tight circle with all four of them, whispering to him now. “Do you have a death wish?”

“What? I was just trying to sell it,” Lance protested.

“And you were not helping, Hunk,” Keith said pointedly.

“What do we do now?” Pidge asked. “They want us to show them something. Thanks, Lance.”

“This is so not my fault,” Lance said.

“I mean, I don’t think they’ll kill us if we’re fake, right?” Hunk asked. “Right?”

“We need to think of something now that this is what we’re running with,” Keith hissed at Lance.

“You would think that a gambler would actually enjoy risks like these,” Lance grumbled.

“I don’t gamble with lives, Lance,” Keith snapped.

Lance only just then became aware of the really dark sky above them. It might have been getting late, but it definitely wasn’t dark yet, so why was it dark already? Was this a weird weather pattern? Wait…maybe it was clouds or something. Clouds always looked weird on other planets. Which meant…

“Okay, guys, what about this?” Lance offered. “It looks like it’s about to rain or…something of the equivalent. So what if we make it look like we made it rain?”

“How, Lance?” Keith asked bluntly.

“You know, I’m trying to come up with ideas here,” Lance said.

“It’s the only thing we have to go off of,” Pidge mused. “But we can’t guess how the clouds are going to work.”

“We’re running low on time guys, I think they’re suspecting something,” Hunk said hesitantly. “We need to do something soon.”

“Okay, well, I can’t be the only one thinking of a way out of this,” Lance argued.

“Maybe you should try thinking of less stupid ideas.”

“Well, I don’t see anything impressive coming out of your mullet!”

“Guys this really isn’t helping maybe we should do something more constructive.”

“Quiet, Hunk!”

They all shut up immediately when Voltron let out a loud roar, ripping through the air at the exact same time that lightning struck the ground somewhere nearby, causing an earth-shaking rumble to pass over them. It started pouring rain almost instantly. The four of them stood almost in shock, staring at the lioness, who relaxed slightly. Pidge pat her carefully and they turned back to the princess and the others. Well, that was definitely something, now wasn’t it?

Lance watched with a little pride as everyone around them began kneeling for them, no one making a move to get out of the rain. Even Allura, Coran, and Haggar bowed for them and Lance couldn’t hide the smile, looking at his three friends.

“My Lords, allow us to get you inside and show you to your temple,” Allura shouted over the rain.

“Hey, a temple,” Lance said happily to the others. Pidge and Hunk laughed, seemingly just as excited as Lance. Keith smiled slightly and that was all Lance could ask for.

Their group followed the three Alteans inside, the castle completely cancelling out any sound of the rain immediately after the door closed. It was ghostly empty, probably because everyone was outside. The place was enormous! Lance’s jaw dropped at the high ceilings, the amazing architecture. This place might have dropped off the map for millennia, but it was still as impressive as the stories said. It really was like a fairytale.

It was a long walk through a lot of hallways, but Lance could easily remember his way out. It was a skill he was thankful he picked up. Always know the quickest escape routes. But if Lance thought the castle was amazing, their temple inside of it was awe-inspiring. Gold had lined the walls and the carpets of the castle, but it was more like highlights, light touches here and there. But everything in the temple was pure gold.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor. The furniture, hell even the blankets and pillows looked like they were made of gold thread. The walls were stacked to the ceiling with golden trinkets, drawn portraits of some of their Gods, along with a lion (strangely enough), lined the parts of the wall that were visible.

“I hope this is to your liking?” Allura asked with a pleasant smile. Lance didn’t trust himself to speak something intelligent, so he let someone else speak first.

“It’ll do,” Hunk said simply, apparently not one for being humble, but Lance didn’t mind. Part of him wanted to just run in there and touch everything. Find himself a bag and take it all with him to their escape pod in the jungle. But he had to control himself. At least until the Alteans were out of sight.

“My Lords, I would like to offer you a ceremony of your arrival at dawn,” Haggar said with another deep bow.

“Then perhaps we could throw a generous feast for you tonight as well,” Allura offered happily. She was positively adorable when she was excited.

“Yeah, go right ahead,” Lance said happily. He should try this God thing out more often…

“I’ll begin the preparations,” Coran said. He bowed deep to them. “My Lords.” Allura and Haggar did the same before they all left, closing the solid gold door behind them.

“Holy shit!” Lance cheered happily, running over to throw himself onto the bedding in the middle of the room. Regardless of if it was made from real gold or not, it was incredibly comfortable. He could just sleep on it right then and stayed that way forever. “This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me!”

“You do realize this is a bad idea, right?” Keith asked and Lance groaned.

“Oh, come on, I think it’s a pretty good one,” Hunk offered. “They wouldn’t just give their gold to strangers, that doesn’t make any sense. But they’ll definitely give some to their Gods.”

“And if we mess up?” Keith asked.

“Keith has a point,” Pidge said, finally dismounting Voltron to allow her free reign of the room around them. “We need to be careful.”

“But you’re not disagreeing,” Lance said happily and Keith rolled his eyes.

“No, I agree this is a good idea,” Pidge said, looking around the room with hungry eyes. Lance could practically see her hands twitching to take hold of the gold. “Looking at the tech they have just based on their architecture, they have the ability to make a ship. If we play our cards right, we could get free gold and free transportation. We should take this chance.”

“C’mon, Keith,” Lance smirked. “You gotta admit, it feels good to be a God, right?”

“Maybe,” Keith said, his mouth twitching in a smile. “But we need to do this quickly, no lazing about.”

“Yessir,” Lance said with a mock salute. He scrambled up to his feet to walk over to Hunk. “Just think about it. Voltron, mighty and powerful Gods!”

“And why did you name us after a lion?” Pidge asked curiously.

Lance shrugged. “I had to come up with something on the spot. But I think it has a nice ring to it. This has got to be the best con anyone’s pulled ever. We’ll be even richer than Zarkon!”

“Who’s Zarkon?” a deep voice made all of them freeze, looking over at the thief from before. He was leaning calmly against a wall. Why hadn’t Voltron alerted them to another person in the room? Speaking of the lion, she was already up close to him, sniffing him carefully. The man looked at her cautiously, but didn’t do anything otherwise.

“Depart, mortal!” Lance commanded.

“Or we’ll strike you with a…lightning bolt,” Hunk offered and Lance nodded resolutely.

“You’re serious?” the man asked with a raised brow. His arms were crossed over his chest as he looked at them. He didn’t hold the demeanor of someone who was talking with Gods…

“Quiet, or you will bring the wrath of the Gods!” Lance tried.

“Lance,” Keith said bluntly.

“Our lion will…rip you limb from limb,” Lance offered.

“Your embarrassing yourself,” Pidge said and Lance groaned, looking back at them.

“Save it for the priestess,” the man said. “You’ll need it, trust me.”

“So, if you don’t think we’re Gods…” Hunk mused and Lance slumped. Well, hopefully they really weren’t that obvious. “Why are you here?”

“My only wish is to serve the Gods, remember?” the man said with a small smirk.

“Okay…” Keith said carefully. “How?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out your plan,” the man said, walking closer to them. Voltron followed him closely behind, but mostly out of curiosity than anything else. If she could trust him, then Lance could. Voltron was a pretty good judge of character. “You want the gold and you want to get out without getting caught, right? You’re going to need my help.”

“And what makes me think we want your help?” Lance asked simply.

“Oh, I’m sure you can handle yourselves on your own,” the man assured them. “You must know all about our religious rituals, the standards for blessing a tribute, all about our afterlife…”

“You have a point,” Pidge mused. “But…who are you? Why do you want to help us?”

“I want in,” he said pointedly. “On your scam.”

“Psh, scam?” Lance scoffed. “Who-who said this was a scam?” Everyone in the room looked at him with a deadpan look. “Okay, fine, but why?”

“You have your reasons, I have mine,” the man said simply. “Let’s not make it personal. Just accept my help. I just want off this planet and you can help. Fair exchange. My help for your help.”

Keith looked him over cautiously. Lance watched as Voltron let out a low purr, butting her head into the man’s hand and he flinched back slightly, but eventually relaxed and patted her head. Well, he pretty much already passed the initiation into their group. And he pretty much qualified as one of them already; he was a thief, wanted off the planet, and was willing to con his way out with them.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Keith said simply.

“I’m Shiro, by the way,” the man said, holding out his hand to shake. Lance noticed that it was his real hand, not the prosthetic. Interesting. Keith took his hand, shaking it. “Your new partner.”

“Hey, I’m not quite sure about ‘partner’ yet,” Lance said simply. “I mean, this is more of a trial run, don’t you think?”

“Of course,” Shiro said with a slight laugh. He turned to the door. “With that arranged, I’ll see you at that feast.” The four of them watched him leave and Voltron actually looked pretty sad once the door was closed again. Lance was a bit curious about Shiro. He was mysterious and obviously wasn’t about to share any facts about himself. That and he was definitely trying to run away when they met. But an uneasy ally was better than nothing.

And on the other hand… “Damn, he’s really good looking,” Lance blurted out in the quiet room.

“We need to be careful,” Keith said pointedly. “Regardless of how hot he is, he might distract you and if you get distracted, this plan of yours is going to fail.”

“But you admit he’s hot,” Lance said with a smirk.

“Well, that’s a given,” Hunk said with a shrug.

“Not really my type,” Pidge mused. “Allura’s not bad, though.”

“Oh, she’s gorgeous,” Lance and Hunk said at the same time, reaching over to high-five each other.

“Not my type,” Keith said simply.

“But relax, we won’t get distracted,” Lance said happily. “We’ve got this. No mess, no stress, we get the gold and we get out.”

“You haven’t exactly been very good at decision making so far,” Pidge mentioned.

“I take offense to that,” Lance said with a pout.

“From now on, we’re going to be careful,” Keith said. “Don’t take unnecessary risks and stick close to each other.”

“Seconded,” Hunk said, raising his hand.

“Okay, fine, but we’re still gonna have fun at this party.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness gravy, what with school starting and my work schedule, I have like hardly any time to write this and my novel, but I’m making time! And I’m watching this movie so freaking much for this fic omg. I even found the script so I can make reference to where I am. Doing great. Anyway, we’re in the thick of it now and we got some stuff on Shiro as well as some stuff on Voltron herself. More will be explained as we go, don’t you worry.
> 
> Anyway, here’s a preview for next time:   
> “It looks like the Gods have already given us two miracles,” Coran noted beside her and Allura looked at him with a questioning glance. “They’ve gotten a smile out of you and Shiro.”
> 
> “I’ve been smiling, Coran,” Allura offered, though that smile she hadn’t noticed stayed. When did she start smiling? It felt good.
> 
> “Not like this, princess,” Coran said. “At least, not since Alfor.”
> 
> “Yes, well, I believe that these Gods will bring much more than just mere smiles.”


	5. Nectar of the Gods

The only good thing that came out of a ‘reverent ceremony at dawn’ was the fact that it meant Haggar wouldn’t be around for the party. She would be busy with preparations, and on top of that she didn’t enjoy parties. Which meant Shiro was free to move around as he pleased without being on edge all night. Granted, he still had to tip-toe around certain subjects. For instance, he was currently avoiding the princess. Sadly, it seemed like she was constantly around the ‘gods’ and so Shiro had to pick and choose when he talked with them. He needed to get on their good sides if they were going to help him out of this place. If that meant tricking them into thinking this was a friendship, then that was what he was going to do.

He looked down at the nunvill in his hand with a slight grimace. He didn’t enjoy drinking (especially this drink) but he had to keep up some semblance of normalcy. He didn’t want to stand out, so he took a few sips here and there, trying to ignore the shiver that shot down his spine at just the flavor of the drink itself. He took in the crowd around him. Even inside the palace, they housed practically everyone in the capital and some people that could make it from further around the planet. Everyone was drinking and feasting and dancing. Shiro hadn’t seen a celebration like this since…well, since he stopped being missing.

But it wasn’t long until the gods were expected to drink. Shiro couldn’t help but smile as he watched from the other end of the room as Coran offered it to Lance and Hunk, proclaiming it as the ‘Nectar of the Gods’. It wasn’t like they could say no and they also didn’t know the horrors of the strong drink. Lance made the mistake of trying to drink the whole glass at once, knocking his head back with the drink.

Shiro had to stop himself from letting out a lout laugh at Lance’s face of realization. The poor boy looked like he nearly puked. But he swallowed down all of it, surprisingly enough. Coran seemed happy to chat with them, seemingly oblivious of the fact that Lance hadn’t taken it like one of the gods would have. Lance then all but forced Hunk to do the same with his own drink. The bigger of the two took it far better, seemingly on the verge of actually enjoying it. Shiro couldn’t help but wonder how much alcohol they’d been in contact with. Lance was already onto his second drink and Shiro could only hope he knew how to hold his alcohol.

“So…” a voice said suddenly and Shiro nearly jumped out of his skin, nearly going into defensive mode, but it was just Pidge. Damn, how had he not noticed her sneak up on him? The lioness (Voltron they called her which still confused Shiro to no end) followed her closely, butting her head against Shiro’s leg. He was a little uncomfortable with her, but she seemed to absolutely adore him, staying as close as possible when he was around. “If you aren’t gonna tell us any of your story, mind at least telling me a little about this place?”

“Like what?” Shiro asked, gladly taking in some of his drink. Pidge didn’t have any in her hand, which he found interesting, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“Well, for starters I’m really curious about the state of your technology,” Pidge said. That was when Shiro noticed that she was fiddling with something in her hand. It looked like…jewelry. Like a ring. Where did she get that? “Obviously, you’re advanced enough for space travel and according to the stories, you used to travel in space. But how come no one’s seen you guys for thousands of years?”

“I’m definitely not old enough to know much about that story,” Shiro offered with a small smile. “All I know is that it had something to do with wars. Altea is a peaceful planet, but the rest of the universe didn’t reciprocate that kindness. So we shut ourselves off. I don’t know how no one’s found us for so long, though.”

“The rest of this galaxy is completely lifeless,” Pidge said and Shiro blinked in surprise. Really? Well, that was interesting. “But my biggest question is…do you think these people would be willing to build us a ship?”

“I’m not sure how soon they’d be willing to let you leave.” Shiro took another drink, growing a bit more comfortable with the buzz forming in the back of his brain. It let him relax a little. “The Gods coming to visit? They’d expect you to stay for years, decades, maybe.”

“Well, I don’t have that kind of time,” Pidge said seriously before shaking her head and offering a small smile. “But they’d do it? You guys still have that technology?”

“Most likely,” Shiro said. “What do you four have to do?”

“Hey, you said you have your reasons for being on the run and we have ours,” Pidge said happily before beginning to walk off. “Let’s not make it personal.”

“Of course not,” Shiro said. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he watched her weave expertly through the crowd. Even when she was being reveled as a god, she knew how to walk around without being noticed. Shiro watched her curiously as she was able to steal a bracelet from someone without even so much as a twitch. She regarded it closely, along with the ring. So she was a thief…

An arm looped around his shoulders and this time Shiro was spatially aware enough to know it was Lance forcing him to crouch down to his level.

“You’ve tried this stuff, right?” Lance asked conversationally, his words slurred. He must have had more nunvill since Shiro last paid attention.

“I think you’ve tried a little too much,” Shiro said with a small laugh, ducking out from Lance’s grip. Hunk was close behind, slightly affected but nowhere near as bad as Lance. Keith also stood with them, giving Lance a look of complete disapproval.

“You definitely shouldn’t be taking this so lightly,” Keith said.

“Oh, come on it’s a party, loosen your mullet,” Lance scoffed. “Gods can get drunk, it’s fine.”

Shiro just shrugged, taking a rather large swig. He would be needing more before the night was over, he could already tell.

“Don’t you think he should relax, Shiro?” Lance offered and Shiro blinked. He didn’t want to be dragged into this, but he already was…

“It will look pretty strange that you aren’t drinking,” Shiro said and Lance smiled victoriously, forcing his glass into Keith’s hands. “According to our legends, the Gods love to drink, especially earthly liquors. Nunvill is a personal favorite. It’s said that only the Gods can actually handle drinking it, which is why it’s become more of a challenge to drink it. Coran’s the only person I’ve met that can handle more than a few glasses.”

“So, wait, what happens if we can’t handle it?” Hunk asked. Shiro shrugged. That part wasn’t really his problem, was it?

“You guys are the con artists here,” Shiro said. “I’m sure you can figure it out.”

“Feeling like taking a gamble?” Lance asked Keith, who rolled his eyes. He took in about half the drink at once and winced but laughed slightly, shaking his head.

“You know, it’s actually not that bad,” Keith offered, staring at the liquid in the glass. He stared for a few seconds before shrugging and drinking the rest of it in one go. Shiro couldn’t help but laugh. Oh, yes, these guys were definitely professionals.

* * *

Allura watched with interest from across the room as Shiro laughed and conversed with the Gods. Obviously, he had some strong connection with them considering their relaxed conversations and his seeming lack of interest for honorifics. The Gods seemed completely at ease with him. And they were laughing. All five of them. They all seemed to enjoy the nunvill like all of the legends said, with the ability to handle the alcohol just as well as Coran, maybe even better.

But her main focus of interest was Shiro himself. She hadn’t seen him smile like this in over a year. After he’d gone missing, she never thought she would see him again. But when he miraculously appeared one day, no doubt due to the grace of these very Gods, he was never quite the same. He would give fake smiles that didn’t reach his eyes. He would tell everyone he was fine. But he was detached, on edge. He didn’t sleep well, he didn’t do well in crowds anymore. He wasn’t the friendly ambassador she’d gotten to know growing up. Something in him was lost with his arm, but she’d never been brave enough to pry.

Or maybe it was just because she didn’t have the time. Since her father’s death during the time of Shiro’s disappearance, a lot of responsibilities fell on her shoulders. She regretted it, but she knew she didn’t have the time to help Shiro. She did what she could; talked to him when he was in the middle of his panic attacks, coaxed him through terrible moods, but it wasn’t enough. Nowhere near enough. But she didn’t have the time.

Maybe that was why he tried to run away.

No, he ran to bring the Gods, bring their planet a blessing it hadn’t gotten since the time of King Alfor’s rule. But it seemed like the Gods were doing more than just blessing their city and planet. They were a blessing to Shiro himself, who was laughing and eventually dragged into a few dances, which were sloppy from the alcohol. They all shared the same red blush that gave away how much they drank. It was…admirable to watch. Even the lioness was having fun, playing among them. They all must have been very close, considering Hunk’s lack of fear as he played with her on the ground.

“It looks like the Gods have already given us two miracles,” Coran noted beside her and Allura looked at him with a questioning glance. “They’ve gotten a smile out of you and Shiro.”

“I’ve been smiling, Coran,” Allura offered, though that smile she hadn’t noticed stayed. When did she start smiling? It felt good.

“Not like this, princess,” Coran said. “At least, not since Alfor.”

“Yes, well, I believe that these Gods will bring much more than just mere smiles,” Allura said, placing her full attention on the Gods once again. More and more people filed around them, getting a chance to at least be near the fabled Gods of Voltron. Honestly, Allura herself had begun to be a bit skeptical over their existence, but all she needed was their presence and she knew. These Gods were blessing them all.

“Nunvill?” Coran offered a glass and Allura laughed slightly before declining with a small shake of her head.

“I think I’m going to get some air,” Allura said. “It is rather crowded in here, don’t you think?”

Coran just nodded, drinking from the nunvill himself. Allura still had no idea how he could drink such a foul liquid without so much as a grimace. Even the Gods had a reaction to it, but Coran had the strongest affinity with the drink, it seemed. A true gift, as he would put it.

Allura weaved through the crowd. She took note of how nice it felt to not be the center of attention for once. Not that she minded being the center of attention. But since she was born, she was regarded as important. It seemed like people constantly wanted to be around her, talk to her. From her birth, to all of her birthdays. When Alfor died, no one left her alone. And since then, everyone crowded around her as their leader. But now, they all focused on the Gods. It was almost like she didn’t exist.

She reveled in it. It enabled her to let her façade drop. Once she was outside, far away from anyone, she could let out a sigh she felt like she’d been holding in for over a year. She was a leader, she wasn’t supposed to portray any weakness. She hadn’t been allowed to cry while mourning her father’s death, hadn’t been allowed to mourn when she was so sure her friend was dead. She hadn’t been allowed to cry from relief when Shiro finally came back. She wasn’t allowed to show how much his mental instability burdened her. She just wanted everything to work out and she was exhausted.

Exhausted from lack of sleep, from too many emotions swirling through her head, from everything. It was so much. But the Gods were here, they would lighten her load, surely. She wasn’t alone anymore. Maybe now she would have the proper amount of time to learn how to rule. Maybe if they stayed long enough, she wouldn’t have to rule and have that impossible pressure rest on her shoulders alone.

* * *

Pidge cackled as she held onto Lance’s iPod tightly. She was shaking too much from her own laughter that reading the screen was hard. But it made her laugh so much. Lance lunged for the device, but she kept it out of his reach. Even with the nunvill, she could still steal from his ‘secret’ pocket without him noticing.

“That’s not fair!” Lance whined, trying to use his lanky arms to his advantage. Keith swiped the iPod from Pidge’s hands, easily keeping it out of Lance’s reach. He had on a wicked smile as he kept scrolling and Lance scrambled to his feet, nearly falling on top of Pidge in the process. But Keith kept it away. “You guys are total assholes!”

“Shrek?” Pidge howled with laughter, holding onto her stomach as she fell over into Voltron’s fur. She was so warm and cozy…Hunk giggled beside her.

“I haven’t even heard of that movie and it sounds terrible,” Keith said bluntly, but still snorted as he kept scrolling. Lance had so much hidden on that iPod, such great material. Pidge was amazed she was still uncovering things after so long.

“That movie and the soundtrack are works of art!” Lance protested, sticking out a pouting lip as he tried to reach around Keith, who easily tossed the device to Hunk, who barely caught it with sluggish reflexes. “Whatever, I’m gonna get more nunvill.”

Lance started moving away from their group, but Shiro reached out and took hold of his collar, stopping him cold. “Oh, no you don’t. You’ve had more than enough.”

“What?!” Lance cried out, looking like he a five-year-old that just had their birthday cancelled.

“You’re drunk,” Shiro snorted, rolling his eyes, tossing him towards Voltron. Lance stumbled onto the ground and Pidge started laughing even more. She turned her attention to all the loot she’d managed to get over the night. She knew when to stop when she would be noticed, but damn did this place have some really amazing gold jewelry! It was so pretty to look at, she just couldn’t help herself from stealing it. Besides, she was a God now, she could have anything she wanted.

“Says you,” Lance muttered.

“Says everyone,” Pidge, Hunk, and Keith said at once and the entire group started laughing again. When Pidge looked around, she noticed for the first time just how much the crowd had dimmed down. It was probably pretty late. She was feeling tired herself, just leaning against Voltron, in all her comfortable glory. She was even purring. She was practically asleep, too, considering how much Hunk enjoyed playing around with her.

“Whatever, I don’t need you guys, I can pull off this con all on my own!” Lance said victoriously.

“Have fun with that,” Keith said with a simple salute. “I’m fine working with a team that knows what it’s doing.”

“Aw, Keith, that means so much,” Hunk said with a big smile. “I could hug you if you weren’t so far away!”

“You guys are so strange,” Shiro chuckled, kneeling beside them. Pidge already felt her eyelids drooping out of exhaustion. She didn’t even mind falling asleep in public, which was a new thing for her. But she could trust the people around her to keep her safe, even in sleep and even when they were all drunk. That was a feeling she hadn’t experienced since her brother and father.

She smiled. They may not be family but they were close enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel terrible for leaving this for two whole weeks. School's kicking my ass but it shouldn't be this bad. From now on I'm going to give myself a deadline (first time for everything) and try to upload every week on Friday. Hopefully that will work.  
> Anyway, we got multiple perspectives. I’m trying to shift away from primarily using Keith and Lance, since those are the characters I’m most comfortable with. So I’m trying to rely more on Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and Allura, so we’ll see how that goes! Anyway, we’ve had the party scene and some trust building stuff! Which is always fun. Next we have our ‘reverent ceremony at dawn’.
> 
> Here’s a preview!   
> “Okay, but what are you gonna do?” Lance asked simply, a cocky smirk on his face. A blatant challenge. Keith scowled before taking hold of Lance’s wrists and sitting on his legs.
> 
> “Pidge,” Keith called out. Lance’s face grew slightly worried, but he didn’t try to escape.
> 
> “Yeah?” Pidge asked curiously, kneeling beside them. Hunk just sat on the bed, watching in interest with Voltron.
> 
> “Tickle him,” Keith said, his voice completely dead-pan, like he was sentencing someone to death. Pidge grew a wicked smirk and Lance just scoffed, rolling his eyes.


	6. Not In Position

Hunk never really gave much thought to whether he was a “morning person” or not, but he normally woke up earlier than Lance and everyone else and he woke up quickly. Today, however, he was most definitely not a “morning person”. In fact, he was more of an “anti-morning person.” Thanks to Shiro, no one had actually gotten very drunk that night, but it didn’t stop the headache or the nausea. Hunk could handle his alcohol well enough, but damn did that nunvill have some nasty after effects.

He shuddered as he started turning on his side, already feeling the bile rising in his throat, burning its way up. He stumbled to his feet in a matter of seconds, barely taking in enough of his surroundings before he ran for an object that could handle being a makeshift trashcan. He grumbled once the feeling finally passed, resting on the ground beside his trashcan. He blinked, coming to the realization that they were, in fact, inside the temple, so he at least saved some face by not being in public. He had some faint memories before passing out of him, Voltron, and Shiro carrying everyone back here, some asleep and the rest already asleep.

Hunk blinked and suddenly there was a cup in front of his face. He looked up to see Shiro looking down at him, holding a cup of his own in his prosthetic hand.

“Tough morning?” Shiro asked, a lilt of humor in his voice.

“Thanks,” Hunk said with a small smile, taking the cup. Shiro knew this place better than the rest of them, he probably knew what would help with the “morning after” feeling. It looked like water, so Hunk just shrugged, taking a swig. It didn’t…taste like water, but it wasn’t exactly bad. It helped a lot. “How long have you been up?”

“Not important,” Shiro said simply, looking at the others. They were in a pile on the bedding, Voltron in the center, fast asleep with the others. Pidge was cuddled close to Keith and Lance looked a little cold, maybe he’d been relying on Hunk for warmth… “We should give them a few more minutes, but after that, we need to wake them up. Haggar will be here soon for her ceremony.” Hunk couldn’t help but notice Shiro’s shudder at the end of his sentence, the clear distaste on his tongue at the name of the priestess. Normally, he wouldn’t press, but he was curious and hungover.

“So, what’s your story with her, anyway?” Hunk asked. Everyone noticed Shiro’s reaction to Haggar, it wasn’t a secret. It made him incredibly curious, but it didn’t look like Shiro was normally very willing to let out his secrets.

“Something I’m trying to forget,” Shiro said dismissively. It was worth a shot. “What’s your story? How did the five of you find each other?”

A small smile rose to Hunk’s face. “We all got arrested.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

They shared a short laugh, but they were cut off by the loud sound of Lance groaning. He stretched arms wide over his head, the groan turning into a whine.

“You guys’re so loud!” Lance complained loud enough for Pidge and Keith to glare over at him. Voltron shifted, but otherwise stayed asleep. Keith reached over and kicked Lance hard in the side and he whined even more. “Rude!”

“You’re rude,” Pidge grumbled.

“You should get up anyway,” Shiro called over to them and Hunk slowly got to his feet. He swayed a little and definitely felt the weight of his eyelids, but there was no going to sleep now. “Trust me, you don’t want the priestess to wake you up.”

“Why didn’t anyone say anything when she said the word ‘dawn’?” Lance asked, slowly sitting up. His hair stuck out in all directions and Hunk snorted. For someone so intent on his beauty sleep, Lance certainly looked far from beautiful when he woke up.

Hunk just shrugged, walking over to start scratching behind Voltron’s ear, petting her until she was forced to wake up. She didn’t necessarily look happy, but her sleepy growl seemed half-assed as well. Finally, Keith and Pidge sat up as well and Voltron stretched, letting out a long yawn and showing off her teeth. It was so easy to forget that she was actually a predator that could easily tear through all five of them. Especially as she butted her head against Hunk’s legs just a second later, purring low in her throat.

“How did you even find that lion?” Shiro asked curiously, head ticked to the side.

“Stole her,” Pidge said with a cocky smirk. Hunk couldn’t help but think about all that artwork he’d seen of a lion just like Voltron. It made him incredibly curious about Voltron herself, where she was from. Maybe she was actually Altean, but that didn’t make any sense. How did Zarkon get his hands on her in the first place?

“You say that like we did it on purpose,” Keith grumbled. Hunk couldn’t help but smile a little. If Lance’s bedhead was bad, Keith and Pidge were way worse, but they didn’t seem intent to try and fix anything for the time being. It made Hunk wonder how bad his hair had gotten overnight, but he tried not to think much on it.

Shiro just nodded absently, drinking the last of the liquid from his cup. Hunk did the same, feeling way better than just a few minutes ago. He wasn’t exactly awake enough to handle a reverent ceremony, but it was close enough.

“Start making yourselves look like Gods,” Shiro suggested, walking towards the door. “I’ll try to give you a warning before Haggar comes.”

“Good luck out there,” Lance said sleepily and Shiro smiled faintly, the gesture falling flat on his face as he left the door.

“There’s definitely a story there,” Pidge said thoughtfully, shucking a hand through her hair in an attempt to get it to calm down. “What do you think it is?”

“There’s a lot of shit about him I wanna know,” Lance said, standing up and stretching every body part he could. “Like that arm thing.”

“He also avoided the princess last night,” Keith mused, resting back on his hands. “I don’t think he’s said a word to her since we got here.”

Hunk hummed, trying to piece together their little clues. Something happened between Haggar and Shiro, but maybe the arm wasn’t connected. He didn’t want to start assuming the worst, but it was the only conclusion is mind could jump to. He figured everyone else had already come to that conclusion, but decided to keep it to themselves. Shiro wasn’t about to share any information with them, so it wasn’t like they were actually going to find out the truth. Shiro wasn’t the kind of person to show his weaknesses to strangers like them, even if they were all partners.

Lance looked back at Keith with a sudden, wicked smirk. Hunk just took a step back, knowing it was never a good sign.

“Up and at ‘em, sleepy head!” Lance chimed happily, gripping onto Keith’s ankles and dragging him off the bed.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Keith yelped, trying to kick Lance off. He gripped onto the sheets tight enough that he actually got some resistance, but Lance wasn’t about to give up.

“We gotta wake up, right?” Lance asked happily, expertly dodging a kick meant for his face. He kept pulling and Hunk and Pidge couldn’t help but laugh at the display, Keith’s shirt riding up in his vain attempts to stay on the bed. Finally, Keith slipped off the bedding and landed hard on his ass on the ground. He winced and everyone was quiet for a short while, Lance still holding onto Keith’s ankles, but the grip was weak.

“You’re dead,” Keith said lowly, wrenching his legs away from Lance and getting to his feet. Lance yelped, running behind Hunk, who just started laughing at the display. When Keith stood in front of him, Hunk just stepped out of the way and Lance said something about traitors before trying to run again. But Keith was faster, tackling him to the ground with a glare.

“Okay, but what are you gonna do?” Lance asked simply, a cocky smirk on his face. A blatant challenge. Keith scowled before taking hold of Lance’s wrists and sitting on his legs.

“Pidge,” Keith called out. Lance’s face grew slightly worried, but he didn’t try to escape.

“Yeah?” Pidge asked curiously, kneeling beside them. Hunk just sat on the bed, watching in interest with Voltron.

“Tickle him,” Keith said, his voice completely dead-pan, like he was sentencing someone to death. Pidge grew a wicked smirk and Lance just scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“That all you got?” Lance asked, but Hunk could tell from some of his body language that he was a little scared. His hands were in fists, he didn’t keep eye contact, and his voice trembled just slightly. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“If you insist,” Pidge said happily, cracking her knuckles before viciously attacking Lance’s sides. Howls of laughter and pleadings to stop immediately filled the air and Lance fought against Keith, who seemed to equal his strength quite well, keeping him still. Voltron finally got up to investigate, maybe even thinking that Lance was in trouble. After about thirty seconds, tears were already coming to Lance’s eyes, but neither Keith nor Pidge looked like they were about to give up anytime soon.

Hunk smirked as he slunk forward, completely unnoticed by Lance. He knew some of his weak spots that he was more than willing to take advantage of. Lance’s feet were unsocked, giving Hunk free reign of his friend’s weakest point. He lightly ran a nail right up the center of his foot and Lance screeched, nearly kicking Keith off of his legs. Keith nearly let go, but kept his grip.

The door opened and closed and Hunk looked over at Shiro, who gave them a puzzled look, but Hunk was the only one that noticed his entrance. He smiled sheepishly, still not letting up on his friend as he tickled his feet.

“What are you doing?” Shiro asked bluntly and they all froze, Lance still chuckling as he relaxed, finally given a reprise.

“He deserved it,” Keith blurted out.

“Jackass,” Lance said with a smirk, shoving Keith off him, finally. “I’m so getting revenge on all of you.”

“The priestess is coming,” Shiro said bluntly and everyone in the room froze for a second before clamoring to their feet, trying to make themselves presentable. Hunk didn’t have a mirror, but he hoped that his hair looked alright, fit for a God. They couldn’t look like some bed-ridden teenagers if they were to keep up their con.

Lance and Hunk looked over each other, giving nods of approval when they were done. Shiro walked over and helped Pidge with a few strands of hair she hadn’t noticed before and soon, even Keith looked normal once again. Not even a second later, the door was all but slammed open and Hunk felt his stomach nearly drop. He’d forgotten what the presence of the priestess felt like; similar to an iceberg in his stomach. Shiro took his place behind all four of them, Voltron at his side. But Hunk wasn’t about to press anything.

“My Lords,” Haggar said, bowing low to them before looking up with a wide, wicked smile. If Hunk didn’t know any better, he’d say she looked happy, but there was definitely a different emotion going on here. Something definitely not friendly. “Your ceremony awaits!”

* * *

Allura would be lying if she said she enjoyed any of Haggar’s celebrations. There was something about them that made her a little tense, uneasy. They had some kind of darker hint to them, and they’d only gotten worse since her father’s death. But she said nothing about it. Haggar knew more about their religion than anyone, the Gods talked from the heavens directly to her and gave her instructions. Who was Allura to say that she was wrong?

Still, she was as anxious as ever as she and Coran waited patiently, watching Haggar as she excitedly (well, as excitedly as she could act) went through all the preparations. The Gods from the heavens had told her that the best way to greet the Gods on Earth was through a celebration near the cave they had come in. Allura didn’t know the exact details of the ceremony, but she was almost excited. And definitely nervous.

Finally, though, the Gods arrived, their mighty lion ahead of them proudly. A wicked smile rose to Haggar’s face as she nodded at her preparations.

“My Lords,” she said, bowing lowly without looking them in the eye. “My princess.” She looked to Allura, who gave a nod. There was a crowd around them, but the location prevented as many as who came to the party to see. “As humble servants of the Gods, we as the citizens of Altea must give you proper honor and praise. A mere celebration is not enough to celebrate the coming of the Year of the Lion! A proper homage to the Gods demands…sacrifice.”

The way she said the last word made Allura’s blood run cold. Sacrifice? She hadn’t been told of this at all. She looked at Coran, who lightly narrowed his eyes before looking at her with a small nod, ducking into the crowd. Allura hoped he knew what to do…The idea of a sacrifice made her uneasy, but again…who was she to question what the Gods would want? Obviously a person of religious prestige would know better than her.

But Allura found it infinitely harder to keep herself calm as Haggar turned and, out of a shadowed corner Allura couldn’t see into before, pulled out a man. A prisoner. He didn’t fight back or struggle, simply looking at the ground as if he had accepted his fate. It didn’t take long at all for Allura to make the connection and she wanted to protest, but it wasn’t her place. She looked at the Gods and Shiro, hoping they could perhaps offer guidance. They were discussion something quietly among themselves, in hushed and quick voices. Haggar didn’t seem to hesitate, bringing the prisoner to a platform of stone she had created but Allura hadn’t understood. Did she really intend to spill his blood in front of all these people? If Allura had known, she would have warned against coming, she would have tried to stop it. But was it really her place to stop it? She glared at her own feet, which refused to move. How had her father managed to be such a good leader, when all she could do was stand there and be useless?

Haggar took a dagger from the table, an almost happy smile on her face. The Gods were talking furiously between themselves and Allura almost pleaded with them in her head in hopes that they could ignore their apparent need for blood for the sake of the civilians around them. Haggar raised the dagger over her head, but before she could swing down, a strong voice shouted over the thick silence that had formed.

“Stop!” It was the God known as Hunk, stepping in front of the group. Haggar looked at them with wide eyes.

“My Lords, does this not please you?” Haggar asked, tilting her head slightly, but keeping the dagger above her head.

“Um, no,” Lance said, hurriedly stepping towards the prisoner, who gave him a questioning look as Lance helped him to his feet.

“I do not understand,” Haggar said, a frown on her face as she began to slump slightly, finally lowering her arm. Allura felt her heart beginning to lighten as she sighed with relief. She hadn’t had to take responsibility for this horrible mistake.

“The stars!” Hunk said loudly. “Are not in position for this tribute!”

“Yup!” Pidge piped up, patting the lion, who was taking a special interest in Shiro, who hadn’t made as single move during this whole time. “Like he says. Stars. Can’t do it.”

“Perhaps I…misread the heavens,” Haggar muttered before bowing to the Gods once again. “I am terribly sorry, my Lords.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance said. “To err is human, to forgive-”

“Lance,” Keith said simply and Lance shrugged, still keeping the prisoner on his feet.

“My Lords!” Coran called out through the crowd, which separated to reveal him standing among them with countless people behind him bearing gold. “Please allow the people of Altea to offer you this humble gift instead.”

Allura finally mustered the courage to step forward, hoping to fix her previous misstep. “Does this…please you?” Thank the Gods for Coran, who always knew how to read the situation after years of advising her father. The Gods stared at the gold for a second, all of them seemingly…distracted? But that couldn’t be, they were Gods, a meager gift such as this couldn’t possibly live up to their standards.

“It’ll do,” Lance said simply.

* * *

Hunk knew something was up with Shiro the second they got to that cave. He didn’t trust the idea of a religious celebration to begin with, especially not from someone like Haggar. And at the sight of the…the sacrifice…everyone tensed up. Everyone wanted to stop it, but they weren’t sure it was their place. Voltron noticed what was happening with Shiro first, taking explicit interest in him. But Hunk soon noticed the shallow breathing, his unfocused eyes, the slight trembling. It wasn’t good, so he ended it fast so no one else had to.

Turned out, that was for the best. They didn’t even have to ask for gold, it was given to them in mountains! But it was not the time to celebrate like they wanted to. Thanks to some expert talking on Lance’s part, Shiro, Pidge, Voltron, and Hunk were able to dart back to the temple inside the castle, in hopes of calming him down. Hunk wasn’t entirely sure what to do, but he hoped he could figure it out. Lance and Keith could focus on public matters and figuring out how to get all of this gold off-planet.

“Do you need anything?” Hunk blurted out the second he was alone. Voltron didn’t even go an inch from Shiro’s legs as he shakily moved to the bedding and sat down. He just shook his head, his breathing coming out in long, forced breaths. “We can help you, if you’ll let us.”

“I’m not that important,” Shiro said quietly. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“No offense but if it’s affecting you this much, it’s obviously something to worry about,” Pidge said bluntly.

“I can get you water or something,” Hunk offered. “Whatever you need.”

“Why do you care?” Shiro asked, slightly narrowed eyes, but it was more skeptical than angry. He was on edge, naturally.

“We’re partners, aren’t we?” Pidge asked. “I’d expect the same treatment back.”

“I, uh, I don’t need anything,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “You can…go back outside, I’ll be fine.”

“If you want to be alone, I understand,” Hunk said.

“But we can leave Voltron with you?” Pidge offered. Shiro looked between them before nodding, licking his lips. His hands were still shaking, but it didn’t take a genius to know he wasn’t going to deal with this well with people around. Maybe if he was alone, he could let out the emotions. But from what little Hunk knew of him, Shiro seemed like the kind of guy to bottle up all of his emotions.

Hunk and Pidge stepped out of the room and barely closed the door before they started whispering among themselves.

“Okay, but what do you think happened?” Pidge asked curiously. “It has to do with his arm.”

“I don’t know,” Hunk mused. “I don’t like the idea of making assumptions.” Though he had to admit he had his suspicions. But, while he would love to get a closer look at that arm, he knew Shiro wasn’t going to let anyone close enough to see anything. Not his arm, and definitely not his past.

“I just wish we could actually help him,” Pidge said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know…I feel bad leaving him alone.”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Hunk said. He hummed for a second before smiling. “Do you know what we could do, though? I’ve been dying to get a look around this castle and actually get a good look at all their tech.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Pidge said with a happy smirk before running off ahead of Hunk, already pulling out her computer to do some investigating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are happening, friends are being cute, etc. etc. Not a lot to talk about with this chapter. Written in the middle of a busy week with not a lot of spare time. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Here’s a preview for next chapter:   
> “A week is definitely not fine,” Lance said quickly.
> 
> “It’s the best we have,” Hunk said. “What’s the worst that can happen?” They stayed quiet for a few seconds. “Don’t answer that.”
> 
> “This could end so badly,” Lance groaned.


	7. A Week

“A ship?” Allura asked and Lance nodded eagerly, Hunk sitting beside him.

“Yeah, you see, in order to properly reach the, uh, heavens,” Lance said as casually as possible, leaning back and setting one leg on top of the other, “we need to get away from the planet. And the ship we arrived on, well, it was only built for a…one-way trip.”

“We certainly did not expect the Gods to be leaving so soon,” Allura said, leaning forward. Lance noticed that there was a tinge of hurt in her eyes and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. But this was a con, nothing more. He couldn’t get attached. They had to get the gold and get the hell out of there. They could figure everything out later.

“Yes, well, you know what they say,” Hunk said with a shrug. “There’s your plan and…then there’s the Gods’ plan. And our plan calls for a ship.”

“You do still have the technology for that, right?” Lance asked, silently pleading to whatever Gods there actually were that these people could actually help them out.

“Well,” Allura said, straightening her back carefully as she soothed out her dress. She took a deep breath before looking back at them with a little more assurance. What was the most curious to Lance was the fact that she didn’t have Coran in the room with them. Considering he was her advisor, Lance would have figured she would keep him around for these decisions. “To make a ship worthy of the Gods it would take…perhaps a few weeks.”

“A few weeks,” Lance said bluntly, blinking in surprise. That was a lot of time. A lot of time to mess this up.

Hunk hummed, leaning forward. “Well, if that’s the best you can do.”

“But for the Gods,” Allura said quickly, swallowing thickly. “One week.”

Hunk and Lance shared a look. A week was stretching it, and this was some advanced technology they were dealing with. It took a lot of effort to be able to leave the atmosphere. This would be people working night and day for the sake of the Gods, who were just going to abandon them.

“Perhaps, if you weren’t burdened with so much tribute,” Allura offered, “we could build a smaller ship in less time.”

“A week is good,” Lance said, nodding. “I like it here, it’ll be a good stay.”

“Yeah, a week is just…just fine,” Hunk said.

Allura smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.” She seemed incredibly relieved, which was good. These Alteans were getting more interesting with every day. First there was Shiro and his inherent mysteriousness, then there was Haggar and her…thing, and then Allura. She was the leader, obviously, but she definitely wasn’t confident. There had to be some kind of story behind that, but Lance wasn’t one to pry. They also had to be careful. He couldn’t get too attached to these aliens or their stories.

“Well, we should go tell the other Gods,” Lance said, standing up. They had to make sure no one started sticking their nose where it didn’t belong or got too attached to this place. “This is very important news. We will be prepared to leave and return to the heavens in a week.”

“Of course, my Lords,” Allura said, bowing her head respectfully. She showed Lance and Hunk to the door of her throne room. She didn’t follow them into the hallway, instead shutting the door, and the second they were alone, Lance turned to Hunk.

“A week is definitely not fine,” Lance said quickly.

“It’s the best we have,” Hunk said. “What’s the worst that can happen?” They stayed quiet for a few seconds. “Don’t answer that.”

“This could end so badly,” Lance groaned. They both knew about cons; what to do, what to be careful about, how to avoid being found out. Sure, Keith was a gambler and Pidge was a thief, but that didn’t make them con artists. And no one knew anything about Shiro’s past experience. One of the first rules about a con in the first place was making sure as little people got involved as possible. And yet there they were with five people and a lioness. There were so many things to look out for and the list only got longer the further in the week they got.

“Let’s see what the others say first,” Hunk said hopefully, walking ahead of Lance and towards the temple. “There’s still a very, very slim chance that this will work out without a hitch.”

“I’m so reassured,” Lance said bluntly. He and Hunk laughed a little, but the threat still hung in the air. There was no telling how the Alteans would react to them being false Gods. This con was probably the most dangerous, most large-scale con they’d ever tried to pull. It was scary, terrifying even, but they could do it. It would just require a lot of skill and patience.

What they walked in on in the temple was not as reassuring. It was empty.

“Oh, that’s not good,” Hunk muttered. They had agreed on the others staying in here while Lance and Hunk figured out the ship thing. What possessed them to just up and leave?!

* * *

Pidge couldn’t hold back a laugh as she watched a bird peck at Keith’s head. She was really glad she’d agreed with Keith to actually sneak out. The planet of Altea was really, really cool. And gorgeous. And fascinating. While their animals were fairly similar to other animals in similar planets she’d been to, they were still interesting to look at. The bird that had taken a particular liking to Keith was a bright and vibrant red, about the size of Pidge’s hand, and extremely loud when it tweeted at them. Keith hated it, which was what made it all the better.

Voltron shook her head as it tweeted again and Pidge chuckled, patting her. She was once again sitting on top of the lion, just because it was comfortable. And she felt more like a God that way, anyway. No one had questioned them when they saw two Gods walking out to the jungle, which Pidge was glad for. This was so relaxing.

“Stop laughing at it, you’re encouraging it.” Keith pouted. He cringed as it pecked his head once again.

“I think it’s cute,” Pidge said happily. Keith rolled his eyes, finally swatting it away the bird, which squawked loudly at him. Both of them jumped at the sound before laughing together. “It’s a shame we’ll have to leave this place so soon.”

“It’s probably one of the better looking planets I’ve been to,” Keith mused, looking up at the trees. “The people are the nicest, at least.”

“How long have you been on your own?” Pidge asked.

Keith shrugged. “Long as I can remember. You learn to pick up some useful skills fast. You? You got a uh…family?”

“Yeah, I did,” Pidge said. “ _Do_. I-I do have a family. But I don’t know where they are.” There really wasn’t much point to keeping it secret for much longer. And she’d tell the rest of the group eventually, maybe they could help. But it felt weird to say it. Keith nodded, prompting her to continue if she wanted to. She let out a long sigh. “They were taken prisoner by Zarkon a while ago. That’s how I got caught, I was trying to find them. Didn’t really, you know, work but it’s fine. I’ll find them soon.”

“Well, if there’s anything I know about how friends are supposed to work,” Keith said, crossing his arms over his chest, “we can help you. We’ll find them together.”

“You really don’t have to,” Pidge said, but she couldn’t stop the smile on her face. The idea of people helping her, for the first time in…at least a few Earth years…it was really, really nice. “But thank you.”

“What are friends for if not to travel across the galaxy together and fight galactic empires?” Keith asked with a small laugh.

“I can’t think of a closer friendship,” Pidge said with a smile. “Do you think Lance and Hunk are looking for us yet?”

“There’s a chance they might still be talking with Allura,” Keith said. “But there’s also a chance they’ve found out we ran off.”

“They’re too high strung about this con,” Pidge said simply. “I get it that we need to be careful, but you'd swear their pride rested on this.”

“And if we were robbing someone you’d do the same,” Keith said simply. “Trust me, if we were going somewhere to gamble, I’d be training you guys for weeks before. I bet Hunk doesn’t even have a poker face.”

“Have you seen Lance’s?” Pidge asked bluntly and they laughed again. Voltron purred happily and Pidge scratched behind her ear. “We should probably get back, though, right?”

“Maybe,” Keith mused. “Or maybe we stay around here for a while. It’s kind of nice to not have to fake being a God in front of everyone else.”

“Lance and Hunk seem to love it,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “Hey, quick question. How do you feel about Shiro? Think we can trust him?”

Keith shrugged. “About as well as I can trust any other stranger I’ve just met. As long as he has the same goal as us, I don’t see a problem. Why? Do you not trust him?”

“It’s not that,” Pidge said. “I think we can probably trust him. But what happens once we get off planet? That’s pretty much where our deal ends. Do we just dump him on some planet with some gold? Is that fair? Is he going to start thinking about that, too?”

“Fair enough,” Keith said, looking up at the sky that filtered through the trees. There wasn’t much, as Pidge noticed when she looked up as well. But it was more interesting than the ground. “I can’t help but think about the rest of us after this. I trust you all but…we’re a group of con artists, a gambler, and a thief. Even if we are able to stay together with so much gold in our hands, there’s no telling how long it’ll even last.”

“Pessimistic much?” Pidge asked with a small smile. Keith nudged her with his elbow. “The only way to find out is to just let it happen, right? As…scary as that is. I mean, I promise I’ll try not to let all the gold get to my head.”

“It looks like even with all this gold you’re still stealing things,” Keith said, glancing down at the necklace Pidge was wearing. She’d seen in on their way to the jungle and it was really, really pretty. It wasn’t like she could help herself, she had to have it.

“There’s never enough gold for a thief,” Pidge said proudly.

* * *

“Traitors, both of them,” Lance muttered under his breath, but Hunk still heard him. He laughed a little to himself, but stayed relatively quiet. Lance still wasn’t over the fact that Keith and Pidge had gone missing. From what Shiro told them, the two just went into the jungle alone and Lance couldn't help but panic a little.

“You know,” Shiro mused, sorting through some of the gold in the room, “the Gods are told to be inseparable friends. They don’t exactly have issues with traitors.”

“Well the Gods don’t normally have to deal with their friends just up and leaving in the middle of the day, now do they?” Lance said with a pout. “Oh, when they come back I’m gonna…I’m gonna…”

“What, are you gonna scold us?” Pidge’s voice asked, sounding very, very cocky. And when Lance looked up at the door to see her perched on top of Voltron she looked just as cocky as she sounded. Keith snorted behind her, encouraging her.

“And just where were you?” Lance asked, walking right up to them with his arms crossed over his chest. “You two had us worried sick!”

“I’m sure Shiro was very worried, too,” Keith said sarcastically and Lance scowled. “Relax, we just went into the jungle, it’s not like we did anything reckless.”

“How did the talk with Allura about the ship go, by the way?” Pidge asked curiously.

“It’ll take a week for them to build it,” Lance said simply and Keith and Pidge blinked, looking at him with wide eyes.

“A week?” Keith asked and Lance nodded.

“You know, you would’ve known this sooner if you were actually here when we got back,” Lance said pointedly.

“So we can’t go anywhere for a whole week?” Pidge asked and Lance finally calmed down from ‘angry rant mode’ because Pidge actually looked a little distressed.

“Hey, look, I mean it’s not that big of a deal,” Lance said with a small shrug. “I’m sure it’ll drive us all crazy to be stuck on one planet for this long, but we’ll be fine. I mean, it’s just a week.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pidge said, biting her lip as she looked down at Voltron, patting behind her head. “It’s just a week.”

“Well,” Shiro said, walking up to the group finally, “since we have to pass some time, I might have an idea.”

“Should we be nervous?” Hunk asked and Lance couldn’t help but agree. Seeing Shiro so cocky, almost excited, made him a little on edge. Maybe he just knew of somewhere he wouldn’t have to see the princess or Haggar.

“Depends how good you are at it,” Shiro said with a smile, walking towards the door. “Come on, I’m sure the Gods would love to give it a shot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, short chapter is short. I’m sorry, but not a lot could happen here. This chapter was just a lot of filler trying to get to the next point with a little bit of plot in there. And a lot of bonding between Keith and Pidge because honestly I think their friendship is absolutely adorable and I love them. Anyway, we are still moving along, doing great.
> 
> Here's a preview for the next chapter:   
> “Okay, Pidge,” Lance said, turning to his other friend. “Think you can hack them?”
> 
> “What, do you plan to serenade them with the soothing lyrics of Nickleback?” Pidge asked with a wicked grin.
> 
> “No,” Lance said pointedly. “I plan to serenade them with the soothing lyrics of Michael Jackson.”
> 
> “Where could we find one of these speakers?” Pidge mused, looking around the city.
> 
> “I’m surprised our escape artists here hadn’t already scouted everything out,” Keith said and Lance raised a finger.
> 
> “Shush! No time for that level of sass right now,” Lance said before looking up and around. “We might have to go back to the castle but if we could just find one of them…”
> 
> “Got it,” Hunk said before jogging off, down the street.


	8. Play Ball

Shiro was actually feeling kind of…excited. And just the thought made him feel something he hadn’t in a while. He was feeling relaxed, happy even. It was something about these ‘gods’ that helped him feel like himself again. Before all of the mess that happened. And for the first time in what felt like years, he finally felt like he had to go outside. Needed to go outside. He was getting tired of staying indoors and he wanted to actually do something, see the city he’d grown up in and gotten to know so well. He wanted to…well, he wanted to show it off to the ‘gods’. And he knew just what to do.

The good thing about going outside in broad daylight was that neither Allura or the priestess would be outside. Allura had too much work to simply laze about outside and Haggar preferred moonlight over sunlight, which meant it was perfectly safe for Shiro to come outside without fear of interacting with either of them. It felt good to know that there was nothing to feel apprehensive about. It felt light.

What struck Shiro as odd, however, was that when they left the castle, it was surprisingly…quiet. It hadn’t been like that earlier today, so what had happened in the last few hours? Shiro furrowed his brow in confusion, but he started walking towards his destination regardless.

“Was it this creepy when you two were out?” Lance asked curiously, his voice low, almost afraid to interrupt the silence around them.

“On the way back, yes,” Keith said simply. Pidge was walking on her own again, leaving Voltron free reign to run around as she pleased, leaping surprisingly far distances. If Shiro knew she wouldn’t hurt him, he might have been scared of her. He was still incredibly curious how a painting of a myth came to life, but he still had some time to think on it. “But I didn’t think about it too much.”

“It’s…creepy,” Lance mused.

“Yeah, kinda puts me on edge,” Hunk said.

“What do you think happened?” Pidge asked. “It was so lively a while ago. But, come to think of it, the streets were pretty empty on our way back…”

“I have a few guesses,” Shiro said, glancing around. Sure enough, he eventually caught sight of a soldier forcing someone into their home. While that wasn’t a common sight from when Alfor was alive, now that Haggar had more control over how the city was run, it had grown more common. Shiro was willing to simply overlook it, however, not eager to bring the priestess’ attention towards him again. It seemed like the ‘gods’ had other plans.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, what are you doing?” Lance immediately demanded, walking right up to the soldier, who stood at attention as quickly as they could, fumbling with their salute. Shiro just stayed put, arms crossed over his chest to watch how they handled this.

“Your Grace,” the soldier said with a slight bow. “I was just following your orders.”

“Orders?” Pidge asked curiously. Voltron finally calmed down, slinking around Shiro’s legs and asking for attention, so Shiro absently scratched behind her ear.

“Haggar was very clear,” the soldier continued, “the streets are to remain clear so the streets can be cleansed. As you ordered.”

“Cleansed?” Keith asked. That word put Shiro on edge. What was Haggar planning? She’d already been essentially humiliated by the Gods and yet she had the gall to order around the soldiers? Allura probably didn’t even know that this was happening to begin with. Haggar had something in mind and it made Shiro nervous for what was to come.

“To prepare for the Year of the Lion that is to come with your arrival,” the soldier supplied.

“Huh, weird, because, you know, we never gave that order,” Hunk said suspiciously. The soldier seemed completely taken aback by that statement, like it hadn’t occurred to him. Shiro simply kept watching, absently petting the purring lion at his feet. The soldier seemed almost terrified by the fact that he might just be disobeying the ‘gods’’ wishes, but considering he followed Haggar’s orders, not Allura’s, it was becoming clear where his priorities lay.

“Well, here’s an order,” Lance said simply, drawing himself up a little taller than normal so he could make himself more imposing. “Take the day off. There’s no street cleansing today.”

“Be sure to relay the message to the other soldiers,” Keith said and Shiro nodded, almost proudly. If he didn’t know any better (and hadn’t seen them behind closed doors) he might have actually thought they were Gods.

He nearly froze when he felt Voltron move, rubbing her head against Shiro’s other hand and he felt overwhelmed by the soft texture of her fur. He looked down at her, his hands frozen as she moved her head around. He’d been petting her with the prosthetic and he hadn’t even noticed. He stared at the metal hand, swallowing thickly. He normally tried to avoid using the prosthetic on anything, for a large number of reasons…and yet he practically forgot it was there. He smiled faintly, rubbing under Voltron’s chin.

“Hey, Shiro,” Pidge’s voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked up at the other four, who were staring at him, the soldier completely gone. “You were showing us something, right?”

“Yeah, right,” Shiro nodded. His heart felt a little lighter, even though the metal hand weight heavy on his shoulder. But he started moving again anyway.

“You know what I think?” Lance asked, his hands laced behind his head as he moved. “I think we need to liven this place up again.”

“That would probably make playing the game a little easier,” Shiro mused.

“Oh, so it’s a game?” Hunk asked excitedly. “What kind of game?”

“One that you probably couldn’t figure out how to play yourselves,” Shiro said with a small smirk.

“Is that a challenge?” Keith asked, raising a brow and Shiro just shrugged.

“Well, let’s liven up the streets first,” Lance said, already bouncing on his feet. “If it’s a game, then the more the merrier, right?” Shiro chuckled, but just nodded as Lance looked around for something that could help him. While Shiro doubted going door to door to tell people that the soldiers were no longer out would work or be very time effective, he also wondered what Lance was planning. “Hey, Shiro, is there like a sound system or something that goes through the city?” Lance asked curiously. “Like, for emergencies or something?”

“I think so,” Shiro said. He hadn’t heard them for as long as he could remember but it made sense, feasibly.

“Okay, Pidge,” Lance said, turning to his other friend. “Think you can hack them?”

“What, do you plan to serenade them with the soothing lyrics of Nickleback?” Pidge asked with a wicked grin.

“No,” Lance said pointedly. “I plan to serenade them with the soothing lyrics of Michael Jackson.”

“Oooh, I’m in if Pidge isn’t,” Hunk offered.

“Michael Jackson?” Shiro asked curiously. Lance quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a little device and Shiro had seen a few other times.

“Where could we find one of these speakers?” Pidge mused, looking around the city.

“I’m surprised our escape artists here haven’t already scouted everything out,” Keith said and Lance raised a finger.

“Shush! No time for that level of sass right now,” Lance said before looking up and around. “We might have to go back to the castle but if we could just find one of them…”

“Got it,” Hunk said before jogging off, down the street. Shiro just chuckled, following after the group as they moved. Keith stayed back with him, but seemed just as curious and amused as Shiro was.

“I don’t know who they’re talking about, either,” Keith said simply. Voltron finally turned her attention over to him and he smiled, kneeling down to give her plenty of attention. Shiro watched curiously as Pidge lifted her sleeve, attaching a cord to a plug on a pole that Shiro normally wouldn’t have paid much attention to.

“Yes! It works,” Pidge said happily, typing away on a small keyboard on her wrist. Shiro advanced to watch what was happening even closer. It was interesting to see, but Pidge was working impossibly fast.

“How do you have something that’s compatible with Altean technology?” Shiro asked curiously.

“Well, I’ve gotten tech that’s pretty universal and hard to spot,” Pidge said absently. “It blends in and learns the language of any tech pretty quickly no matter where I plug in. The plug I stole last night. Figured it would come in handy.”

“I’m starting to think we should be worried about that habit,” Hunk said and Pidge paused to give him a short glare before returning to her work.

She eventually held up her hand. “Lance, your phone.” Lance handed it over without any hesitation. In a matter of a few ticks the little device was now connected to the pole, and Shiro finally took notice of what looked like a speaker at the top. Could they really connect to all of the other speakers just from this one? Sure enough, in just another few ticks, a sound flooded all around them, something that sounded at least a little similar to the music on Altea. It had a fairly good beat and Shiro couldn’t stop himself from laughing a little as the ‘gods’ laughed triumphantly among themselves. Even Keith seemed a little excited. Well, hopefully this plan of theirs would work out.

* * *

Allura hadn’t noticed the sound at first. She was too focused. Not only did she have to worry about the preparations of the ship for the Gods, reviving a program that had been nearly destroyed hundreds of years ago, maybe even more, but she also had to worry about other preparations for the Gods on top of her usual amount of work. She nearly wanted to cry. Why did the Gods have to leave so soon?

But she had to be strong, she couldn’t let herself get distracted by emotions like that. She had a job to do and her father was able to do it, so she could as well. It was her duty to her people. And yet…she did eventually hear the sounds. It was…music? Where was it coming from? It sounded like it was coming from outside, but…Allura slowly raised from her seat at her desk and tapped some of the buttons on the wall, lightening the tint on the windows. She normally preferred to work in isolation so she could focus, but what she saw nearly took her breath away.

Nearly everyone was outside, on the streets. And they were having fun. Kids ran around and adults laughed, some danced a little. A makeshift market that looked like it had been put up in a hurry was bustling with people…and that was just what Allura could see from a single window. She carefully opened the window and listened to the music. It was unlike anything she’d heard before, but she knew that it just had to be another miracle from the Gods. She felt an urge to go outside as well, but she looked back at her desk, at all the work she had left to do. There was so much that she had left…

She bit her lip, looking back outside. To her people. The Gods had brought with them something that this planet seemed to lack for quite some time. Fun.

Well, to hell with it, then. Allura quickly pulled herself together and decided to go outside. There were still some workers in the castle and they seemed at least a little surprised to see Allura, but she couldn’t help but smile. She was going to…goof off. Have a little fun. She could finish her work later. As she walked out the front doors of the castle, she felt nearly overwhelmed by the atmosphere outside. It had seemed so eerily quiet the last time she’d checked and now it was so full of life it almost felt like a festival.

Allura found herself wandering through the crowds, allowing the relaxing, happy mood to take over. Everyone was chatting happily and even more markets were set up the further she walked. It seemed that anyone was taking advantage of the fact that people were out and about. It felt…like a proper celebration. Not just an extravagant feast inside the castle, but something everyone could participate in. Allura found herself laughing and tapping her own foot to the beat as she caught a crowd dancing. They had created their own dance to this mystery song no one had heard before.

Most of what Allura knew of were classic dances taught to her, but this was something else entirely. When she turned her head, she found that she was surprisingly close to a court that children commonly played games in. She remembered taking plenty of trips there with her father, distracting him from his work. And what she saw there nearly took her breath away. While kids were indeed playing, bouncing a ball across the court, the Gods were also playing with them. And on top of that, Shiro was as well. All of them were smiling and laughing, running across the court. Shiro was holding the hand of a little girl, helping her run and letting her get a few kicks in. He even cheered with her when she scored a goal, though Lance had let it happen.

“I remember you used to be one of the best at that sport,” Coran’s voice nearly startled Allura out of her skin, but she looked to Coran, who stood beside her with a happy smile on his face. He seemed just as excited and happy about this as everyone else was.

“That was a long time ago, Coran,” Allura admitted shyly. While she did want to play and bring back memories of that mostly ruleless game, she knew she shouldn’t. It was…unbecoming of a princess of Altea to do such a thing, let alone with the _Gods_.

“Go,” Coran urged her. “You’ve made it this far already.”

“I shouldn’t,” Allura admitted. She heard Shiro’s laugh again and the memories of their times together as children seemed to flood back. All the times she’d heard that laugh, even before his voice got so deep and he grew so tall. Before he became an ambassador and before it mattered that she was a princess. Before he disappeared and the laughter went away. He was smiling brightly again, laughing with the Gods and playing games with children. Allura’s heart pulled her towards the scene, almost violently.

“Well, I think you need to,” Coran added as the ball bounced out of the court and towards them. “They obviously need a little help learning how to play, don’t you think?”

Allura stopped the ball with her foot. She was hardly dressed for anything like this, her dress nearly reaching to the floor and her flats ready to fall off the second she started running. But when she looked back at the court, saw the kids smiling wide at her, saw the Gods offering welcoming nods…saw Shiro look at her without all the tension that had stayed between them the past few months…

She kicked the ball back into the court, following soon after. She found herself giggling within a few ticks as Lance and Keith tried to kick the ball at the same time and practically tripped over each other. Shiro walked up beside her and they matched gazes once again. Shiro seemed to hesitate for a moment, opening his mouth to say something, but he closed it. He nodded to her and she almost immediately nodded back. He jogged off to help a few of the kids Allura could guess were on his team get it going back in the right direction. Well, that was certainly progress.

* * *

It had been a long day, indeed. Everyone was tired. Coran walked calmly through the familiar castle, going over the list of things he’d made of everything he had to do, looking through what he still had to do before it got too late in the night. Being royal advisor was certainly a very difficult job, not that he minded, of course. He absolutely loved every second of it, but still...

First thing’s first, though, he had to check by a certain room. While it had been positively bustling with activity outside earlier, everyone in the city grew tired eventually. Including the occupants of this room, who seemed to work themselves much harder than everyone else.

Coran slowly opened the door, knowing just what to expect at such a late hour, especially after a few of the other times he’d checked in on them. Everyone inside was asleep. The four Gods and Shiro were all lounging together on the bed, where countless blanket and pillows were strewn around in a mess around all of the sleeping forms, the lioness curled happily at the very edge of the bed. It was no surprise that Shiro was so close to the Gods, but it was still amusing to see.

Ever since his mysterious disappearance with the high priestess and his sudden reappearance, he hadn’t been acting the same. He was more withdrawn than usual, didn’t like talking, never stayed around long for meals. Even with how hard the princess was working to try and help him return to normal, nothing worked particularly well. But now? It appeared these Gods had been given plenty of blessings by just being around.

Shiro was lying in the middle of the mess, lying on his back and in a deep, restful sleep. On his right side were Keith and Lance, on his left were Pidge and Hunk. It was almost like they were meant to be together, the five of them. Just like this.

Even though Keith and Lance seemed to bicker a lot, when it came down to it they could defend each other against anything (including some comments from the other Gods). Pidge seemed to be the smartest in the group, but despite that she wasn’t even the voice of reason. She could get into just as much trouble as the rest of them and even Hunk couldn’t control her. No, it was Shiro that seemed to reign in the Gods and their quarreling personalities. When no one else in Altea was brave enough to step in, Shiro seemed to hold no fear of being smited by the power of the Gods. And the Gods seemed to respect him for that, something equally as endearing.

Coran watched with a small smile as Keith turned slowly, curling a bit more into Shiro than he already was. Pidge was already clinging to his arm while Lance and Hunk seemed content resting their heads on his legs. There was no need to disturb them, so Coran was fine with closing the door and continuing on his way.

Naturally, he could guess that this group of young adults were not Gods, but he wasn’t about to crush the dreams of everyone else in the city and the princess herself. It was easy enough to guess; while Gods definitely were not perfect, these were just people, prone to making many, many mistakes. But their attempt admirable and Coran honestly thought that their appearance could only do good things for his city, regardless of their reasons for lying.

Already, the princess was lighter, more willing than ever to do what was needed. Ever since the untimely death of her father, she had become rather distant and had been focused far too much on her duties. While she still felt more than enough love for her city, she couldn’t step out from her father’s shadow, no matter how hard she said she tried to. But now? With the Gods around to encourage her to relax and return to herself, she was acting more like a leader than ever. She needed the Gods, it seemed, so Coran really hoped that they would stay much longer than they planned.

It still seemed like they were continuing with their plan on leaving in just a few days time, which was exactly why Coran might have…added to his list of to-do items a way to slow down the process of the ship building. The longer the Gods stayed, the better for the planet.

He shrugged as he continued on his way. No doubt, the princess was already asleep as well, already thoroughly exhausted from that day’s activities. Coran was curious as to what the Gods would do next, but for now he would let everyone rest fully, carefully closing the door as he turned down the hall. They weren’t immortal, after all, they needed their rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came out surprisingly easily. A wonder what will happen when you can’t write for a week and finally have a chance to sit down and actually do something. Very happy to be continuing some of the Allura and Shiro plots, since I do have some big stuff planned for them. More overall plot will be happening soon, I promise.
> 
> For now, here’s a preview for next time:   
> “Ah, my Lords,” Haggar greeted happily, but Keith kept her at the door, interestingly enough. Shiro tried to keep his head on straight, which was nearly impossible around her, but he still tried. “Perhaps sometime you can see as well and become just as enlightened as your brother.”
> 
> “We can only hope,” Keith said fluidly. There was no hesitation, no fear. Shiro knew that Haggar could do a lot in a short period of time. What if she did something terrible to Keith that they couldn’t reverse? “Give me a chance to persuade them, I’ll return tomorrow.”
> 
> “Of course.” Haggar bowed as she left and Keith walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
> 
> It was quiet for a moment and Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Keith whipped around, fire in his eyes as he stormed right up to Shiro.
> 
> “When the hell were you going to tell us?” Keith snapped, cutting off Lance before he even had a chance to talk.


	9. Year of the Lion

If Keith was going to be stuck here for a whole week, he was going to find some answers to his questions. Better than sitting around, doing nothing like Lance wanted. So Keith braved the early morning hours, sneaking out of the room as quietly as possible. Curiously enough, Shiro was already awake, but he didn’t seem to care that Keith was leaving and luckily Voltron was in the middle of a serious cuddle session with Hunk.

Apparently no one found it strange when a God was walking alone outside, which Keith was grateful for. He didn’t need to sneak around, which felt weird, but it was definitely something he could get used to. He walked proudly, trying to really sell the idea that he was God, which was definitely something Lance and Hunk did better than he did. Still, he had a specific destination in mind. The only problem with that was the fact that he actually didn’t know where that destination was.

He’d been curious since their first few minutes in this city about Haggar and he wanted answers. So he had every intention of finding her, or at least where she did her priestess…stuff. It was already interesting enough that she wasn’t connected to the shrine in the castle at all. In fact, she seemed completely shut out from the castle in general. Which meant she might be secluded, but Keith was just going off of assumptions. He kinda just expected to be able to find it relatively easy. It wasn’t like he could just up and ask someone. He was God, he was supposed to have the answers, not them.

He chewed on his lower lip as he looked through some of the alleyways he passed by. He really didn’t want to ask in general, but it looked like he might have to. The very thought made him anxious. Sure, he knew how to deal with people at a table while playing card games, but just talking to people up front? That was another monster he wasn’t good at. More people were out than the day before, thankfully, so maybe he could go through with it without making a scene…

He turned his attention to the people walking down the street and took in a deep breath, straightening his back in hopes of gaining confidence with it, but his stomach twisted in violent knots, screaming at him that this wasn’t a good idea. He looked around to find someone to talk to, anyone, and he relaxed slightly when he caught sight of a few kids running along the street with their toys. Kids wouldn’t ask questions about why he was looking for something, they wouldn’t cause a scene, either. That was his way out.

Keith nodded happily as he made his way over to the kids, who calmed down the minute they saw him, looking up at him with fairly serious expressions.

“Hey, do you think you could help me?” he asked, kneeling down in front of them so they were at least close to eye level. Keith had never been good with the ages of kids, but they were at about his waist and talked fairly fluidly, so he was guessing they were at least two. “I’m trying to find something.”

“What are you trying to find?” one of them asked curiously and the other elbowed them sharply in the side.

“My lord,” the other kid finished and Keith smiled faintly.

“I’m looking for the priestess, actually,” Keith offered. “We have a…ritual to go over. Anyway, do you know where she…lives? Or prays? Or anything like that?”

“Well, shouldn’t you know that?” the first one asked. Keith sighed, but tried not to let his irritation show. So apparently kids did ask questions…

“I’m more of a…big scale God,” Keith tried. “The other Gods are focused on the small stuff, like where things are, I do a lot more stuff on, like, the stars.” He hoped that would work well enough.

“Oh, okay.” The kids nodded together and Keith sighed with relief. He had no idea how their Gods actually worked, so he was walking a thin line on his own. “She’s out in the jungle.”

“It’s this shack, near the cave entrance you came in,” the other supplied excitedly, happy to help one of the Gods. “It’s so spooky! My older brother gets dared all the time to go touch it, but he’s always too scared to.”

“Thank you,” Keith said with a nod. Though now he was a little nervous. He expected the place she lived to be as creepy as her, but if it was that bad…He stood up straight, but he felt like he had to say a sort of good-bye to these kids, who looked up at him with eager eyes. “Uh…stay…safe.”

He nodded. Giving them advice was good. Yeah.

He left before they could respond to him, saying that it was actually a stupid way to say goodbye, like he knew. Well, now he knew the exact location to go to, so that was good. Now he just had to work up the nerve to go in. What would he do? Just knock on the door? Walk right in? He was a God, after all. But this was the high priestess. She would know more about the Gods than anyone. He had to be extremely careful around her, especially on his own. One slip up meant their cover was blown, and this far into the con, it might even mean death…depending on how these people treated liars and thieves.

Before long, Keith made it to the cave. Of course, people were staring at him, but it wasn’t because he was alone or he was acting weird. They would just whisper among themselves about the God walking among them. Made sense, but it still filled Keith with plenty of nerves. He was hoping he wouldn’t be found out quickly, especially not by the rest of the team. He needed a little time on his own to figure out these mysteries that had been plaguing him for days.

Walking into the cave was nice. It was cool and quiet and there was no one there. He could finally relax, at least for a few minutes. He knew that once he left the cave, he’d be even more on edge than before. He decided he didn’t want Haggar to see him, which meant he would have to sneak in unnoticed. While he wasn’t the best thief, he did know a few things about sneaking around. Having a wanted name meant he had to get good at hiding. He could manage something like this, easily.

Once he reached the end of the cave, Keith looked either direction, as if willing himself to see the shack he’d been told about. The kids said it was near the cave, so that meant it shouldn’t be that hard to find. He started by moving to the right. Once he went too far, he could circle back and try a different direction.

Thankfully, it seemed like luck was on his side and he found the shack in a matter of minutes. The second he saw the little building, he ducked behind a tree, as if he would be spotted by something, but all remained quiet and still. He let out a breath and looked around the tree at the shack. It honestly didn’t look like much, especially compared to the rest of the city. The word ‘shack’ made him almost anticipate something made of old wood and certainly not something with a foundation.

It was small, that was for sure. It was like a perfect cube, made of slim, dark, smooth materials, but the jungle had worn most of it down. There was some growth up the walls, but other than that there wasn’t anything _physically_ creepy about it. But something was definitely off when Keith stared at it. There was some kind of overwhelming aura coming off of it, telling at him to run away and never look back. Something was wrong here and he wanted to find out what.

So, against his own intuition, he started forward, keeping low and out of sight just in case. Nothing moved around him, not even animals. He didn’t doubt that most avoided the area completely. He swallowed thickly once he got up to the wall. He couldn’t go for the door if he was sticking with keeping himself hidden. But there weren’t any windows… He licked his lips, moving slowly to the front of the door. He looked around the forest one last time just in case something would spot him, and he turned to the door. It was a simple, automatic door. Once he got close enough to it, it just slid open and he flinched backwards, almost waiting for something bad to happen.

But it didn’t.

He took a deep breath and moved further inside, staying low, but ready to move just in case. Haggard was nowhere to be found. The shack wasn’t much on the inside, either. There were desks piled high with papers, all filled with notes on stuff Keith couldn’t understand. There were some rituals, he guessed, some guidelines. And there was an odd amount of technology talk, stuff he knew he would never understand. One word did catch his eye…

 _Shiro_.

He furrowed his brow, glancing around to make sure no one was around, but it didn’t seem like anyone was there. Maybe she was out getting something…

Keith continued looking through the papers. Shiro wasn’t just there once, not even twice. Almost every paper had his name written down multiple times. It was like…an obsession. Observations, notes on his behaviors, his eating habits, his stamina, his level of consciousness…It was freaky, to say the least. But Keith couldn’t take anything with him, just in case she would notice anything going missing.

He moved away from the papers to see if he could find anything interesting, but nothing else caught his eye. There was an old kitchen filled with rotted food. Obviously she hadn’t touched it in a while. There wasn’t even a bathroom or a bed in here, it looked like a place for just…notes. Keith nearly turned to leave, with even more questions than answers, when he heard something.

It sounded…strangely like technology. A lot of technology. A whirring of machines, the faint beeping sounds of a computer of some kind…But where was it coming from? He searched around the papers, but he couldn’t find anything, in the kitchen, nothing. He even looked outside, but the sound went away if he got too far from the shack. Finally, he looked down at the floor. There was no carpeting, just some torn up rugs that didn’t look like they provided much padding. Keith knelt down and pressed his ear to the ground. The sounds grew louder.

He let out another breath before moving one of the carpets to the side. Sure enough, the floor had the indent of a door, this one manual. Keith looked at the door to the shack once again, hoping this was a good idea. But he couldn’t just leave now, there were still more answers to find. So, he did the logical thing.

He opened the door.

There was a little stairway down and he quickly descended, hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible. It was almost completely black on his way down, but there was a little light from the technology around him, enough that he could figure out where to turn on the lights. So…she built a basement for her shack…that was comforting. How big was the basement was the important question. And how had Keith not even seen evidence of this from outside? There had to be some kind of foundation for it…unless she relied on her priestess magic or something…

Regardless, he still moved forward, slowing once he got close to the switch. Finally, he flicked on the light and he felt his jaw drop. The room wasn’t very large, no bigger than the shack above, but it was stocked full of…stuff. Very unnerving stuff lit by a very, very pale light.

On top of mountains of papers, there were drawings. Of Voltron. Colored drawings of their lion, parts of their lion, and a lot of notes he couldn’t understand. Piled high on another desk were…mechanical limbs, most appearing to be broken, physically. Almost an entire wall was lined with computers, all whirring due to a constant work.

A loud beep sounded from the computer, nearly making Keith jump out of his skin. He looked over to see that there was a message one of the many screens across the wall. If Keith thought all of this was too much to handle, the message was on another level. They were clear letters and there was no note of who the sender was, but he could tell.

_Have you found my lion yet?_

“If I had expected a visit from a God, I would have cleaned up.”

Keith nearly screamed when he heard her voice dangerously close to his ear. He twirled around, remembering fleetingly that he had to keep calm. He was a God, he wasn’t supposed to be caught off guard. But he was well on his way to being terrified. He needed to get out of there safely and the only way to do that was take a gamble. He had to lie through his teeth to get out of there safely.

“Care to explain what, exactly, you’re doing here?” Keith decided to ask, keeping on his best poker face. He couldn’t show that he was afraid, even though he was just one more surprise away from a panic attack. Luckily, this was what he did best. “This is quite the set up to be hiding from the princess.”

“Oh, you know how Allura gets,” Haggar said smoothly, looking over the piles of papers and tracing her fingers over some of the broken arms. “She gets uncomfortable with necessary sacrifices. I’m doing the Gods’ research here. That’s something you would understand, of course.”

“Well, it certainly looks like you’re getting a lot of work done,” Keith said. Haggar smiled at him, a look that sent a shiver down his spine. She started moving closer to him and he had to take a few steps back to keep a good amount of space between them.

“I got so close before,” Haggar said excitedly. “But he ran away before I could finish. But I’m working on getting replacements soon. And then, we can start the era of the Lion you’ve told me so much about.”

“Yes,” Keith said. What the hell was she talking about?

“Would you like to learn more about what I’m doing?” Haggar backed him into a table and Keith’s stomach plummeted. There was something about the tone in her voice that he certainly didn’t like, but he had to do anything to get out of there. He had to tell the others that this place really wasn’t safe. A week was too long, they needed to get out now, no matter what. “I’m sure you, more than the other Gods, would understand.”

“I would love to,” Keith said evenly. For some reason, it almost felt like he’d just sentenced himself to death.

* * *

Shiro knew he wasn’t these kids’ father. He knew he wasn’t actually responsible for them, despite being fairly older than all of them. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what Keith was doing. He got up early, already uncharacteristic for him, and he was gone for so long. Shiro hadn’t thought much of it at first, despite the fact that Lance made them all swear not to leave the shrine that day. They’d already gone out and done so much. Shiro almost wanted to leave himself. But…Lance and Hunk nearly had another heart attack over it and Pidge didn’t seem to mind at first, simply doing more research on any piece of technology she could get to, but then panic started to rise.

It had been hours. Keith had been missing for six hours. Pidge grew nervous as well and Lance was already planning a funeral. What was Keith even up to? Voltron had started pacing an hour ago and Lance was more than happy to join her.

“I mean, he could have just gone in the jungle and gotten eaten by something,” Lance mused. “That has to be quick, right? He wouldn’t have suffered much, right?’

“That depends on if he was mauled or poisoned,” Hunk offered and Lance stopped pacing to glare at him.

“What kind of friend are you?” Lance asked. “I swear, the second he gets back here, I’m gonna…I’m gonna _ground him_. He’s lost all privilege to leave this room.”

“Lance, calm down,” Shiro said, walking over to put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be alright. Keith might be impulsive but he’s smart. I don’t know what he’s up to, but he knows how to keep out of trouble.”

“It’s _Keith_ ,” Lance said simply, like that was an explanation for everything.

“He does have a point,” Pidge offered.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and Shiro tensed at seeing Haggar at the door, nearly sticking to Keith like glue. What had she done with him in the past few hours? Shiro felt his breath catch. Had he been careless and just let one of his newfound friends walk right into her trap? Oh, Gods, this was all his fault, what if she did something irreversible to him like…like…

“Ah, my Lords,” she greeted happily, but Keith kept her at the door, interestingly enough. Shiro tried to keep his head on straight, which was nearly impossible around her, but he still tried. “Perhaps sometime you can see as well and become just as enlightened as your brother.”

“We can only hope,” Keith said fluidly. There was no hesitation, no fear. Shiro knew that Haggar could do a lot in a short period of time. What if she did something terrible to Keith that they couldn’t reverse? “Give me a chance to persuade them, I’ll return tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Haggar bowed as she left and Keith walked into the room, closing the door behind them.

It was quiet for a moment and Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Keith whipped around, fire in his eyes as he stormed right up to Shiro.

“When the hell were you going to tell us?” Keith snapped, cutting off Lance before he even had a chance to talk.

“About what?” Shiro asked, trying to stay calm, even when his mind wanted to freak out. All of Keith’s calm had vanished. His hands were shaking, he was breathing heavily, his entire face had morphed into a grimace, a deep glare.

“Don’t play dumb,” Keith snapped and roughly shoved Shiro back. He stumbled back a few steps. “I just spent _hours_ learning about it in full, vivid detail. I know everything.” Shiro felt a horrible feeling appear in his stomach. No…what had Haggar told him…Please…he couldn’t relive that… not now….not when he was so close to getting out! “We can start with why you didn’t tell us about her apparent obsession with you. Or how about why she has exact copies of your fake arm. Or what about her plan to make perfect, mindless slaves for the Gods?”

“What?” Hunk asked with wide eyes. The others were just as shocked, apparently, and Voltron grew tense with the rest of the atmosphere in the room.

“Or maybe we can start with that,” Keith said, pointing right at Voltron. Now that, Shiro didn’t know anything about, but he didn’t exactly have time to speak with Keith on a tirade. “For a planet that doesn’t have space travel, how the hell did they get her off of this planet without anyone noticing?”

“What are you even talking about?” Pidge asked.

“We’re not safe here,” Keith said, glaring at Shiro. “We’re not safe with him, regardless of if her programming worked or not. We need to leave. Now.”

“What happened?” Lance demanded.

“Zarkon knows we’re here,” Keith said and the other three in the room froze. “He knows his lion is here. And Haggar is working with him. Somehow. I’m not sure how, but she is. He’s going to be coming soon. And we can’t trust Shiro because there’s no telling what she planted in his brain.”

“I’m in control of myself,” Shiro spat, finally mustering the courage to fight back.

“You weren’t for the entire year you were missing,” Keith said pointedly. “Do you even remember the shit she had you do? Do you even remember helping her with all of her…experiments?”

“That wasn’t me,” Shiro said lowly. “And no, actually, I don’t. You have no right to accuse me of anything. You don’t know what I went through under her control.”

“I know exactly what you went through,” Keith growled. “She was going to create you into a perfect slave, fit for the Gods, or what she thinks are the Gods. The only reason you aren’t with her now is because you escaped, but I’m not even sure if that’s not a part of her plan already.”

“Hey, hey, let’s calm down here,” Hunk said, walking in between them. “Keith, what are you talking about? Slow down.”

“I can explain when we are on that pod and out of here,” Keith said pointedly.

“Hey, we are mid-con here,” Lance protested. “We can’t just up and leave in the middle of it.”

“We are not safe and we need to leave now,” Keith said.

“You are taking me with you,” Shiro said. He couldn’t stay on this planet. Not alone, not with her. He had to leave, he couldn’t look at this place the same anymore. He was so close to getting out!

“What is Haggar doing?” Hunk asked, trying to keep everyone calm, which was failing tremendously.

“She’s getting words from the Gods, or what she thinks is the Gods,” Keith said. “Messages on that computer. She’s been getting them for years. They’ve been instructions. And I know they’re from Zarkon. He already found this planet and he’s using her to colonize it for him. He’s getting tired of her taking her time, especially now that he knows other Gods are here with his lion.”

“How?” Pidge asked.

“Ask her first experiment,” Keith said bitterly and Shiro flinched. “Zarkon figured out he was talking to someone on Altea and he wants the gold given to him willingly. He’s playing the same con as us. And she’s using technology and sorcery for mind control. Once this whole place is ready, he’ll come and take it for himself. We need to leave before that happens.”

“What, no we can’t just leave,” Lance protested. Shiro couldn’t control his own breathing anymore. He didn’t know any of this. He remembered being taken, he remembered Haggar…he remembered a lot of pain. But he was able to get away. Was it really before anything permanently affected him? “If that’s really what’s happening, we have to help these people.”

“And fight against Zarkon?” Keith scoffed. “Not likely.”

“I’m not a part of this,” Shiro said.

“You became a part of it whether you wanted to or not,” Keith said. “There’s no way around that. And I can’t trust you unless I know exactly what’s still in your head from her. We’re lucky that she thinks we’re still Gods, just not on the same level as Zarkon. She’ll be trying to use us for this plan eventually.”

“Listen,” Lance said. “We only have five more days until the ship is done. Nothing too bad can happen in five days, alright? We’ll get out of here quickly, we’ll take Shiro with us since we promised, and we can figure it out from there.”

“No deal,” Keith said. “I’ll leave on my own if that’s what it takes. I’m not being taken by Zarkon again and I’m not getting involved in the drama of a whole planet I don’t have any relation to.”

“Hey,” Pidge countered. “We’re a team. We can’t just make decisions on our own. What about what we talked about yesterday, huh, Keith?”

“That’s why I want to leave, to keep all of you safe,” Keith said quietly. “Why can’t you just trust me?”

“I trust you,” Lance said, “but we need a better plan than just leaving in the middle of the night. And I still trust Shiro. I’ve only known you for a few more days longer than him, so it’s not fair to say we can’t trust him. He’s had the chance to betray us and he hasn’t.” Shiro felt himself beginning to calm down, happy to see that they actually did trust him. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was worth trusting, but it was still a very nice thought.

“Let’s just calm down,” Hunk said. “And think of a better plan. We’re still going to get out of here, so let’s all take a deep breath. And figure this out.”

There was a knock on the door and everyone in the room fell silent. Shiro stared at the door with wide eyes, but Lance was the first one to open it. Allura stood on the other side of it, a happy smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay, big tone shift here. I’ve been like subtly building up to this in the background, but yeah, this is where the main plot is going. Keith just got a little angry and tense because he was kinda stuck in close quarters with Haggar under intense circumstances (and we also don’t know exactly what happened in all six of those hours). But, yeah, I hope this came out as smooth as I wanted. It was getting kind of slow so I am sorry for such a sudden tone shift. Hopefully it’s not too jarring.
> 
> Anyway, here’s a preview for next time:   
> “This is my fault,” Shiro said and Lance immediately turned to face him. “I’m sorry.”
> 
> “This is definitely not your fault,” Lance blurted out, eyes wide and disbelieving at the very idea that this was Shiro’s fault.
> 
> “If I had just told you…” Shiro trailed off, staring at the ground.
> 
> “We all went into this with the agreement that we wouldn’t know about each other’s pasts,” Pidge said. “Knowing it shouldn’t make such a big difference.”
> 
> “Lance, what were you thinking, telling him to just…leave,” Hunk said with an exasperated sigh. “Now who knows what will happen. How will we explain to everyone why Keith is missing? Tell them he’s sick?”


	10. Out of Control

“My Lords,” Allura bowed as soon as the door was opened, before she even saw who had opened the door for her. But she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. “I hope you do not mind my interruption.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lance said quickly, a slight tone of his voice telling Allura that he was…annoyed possibly? Or stressed? Well, that just wouldn’t do. Perhaps her good news would cheer them up. She stood up properly, looking into the shrine to see exactly what the Gods were doing. There was still remnants of what looked like some kind of argument on all of their faces, but it was certainly not her place to pry.

“Do you have something to tell us?” Hunk asked curiously, noticing the smile on Allura’s face.

“Yes,” Allura said, keeping her cheerful demeanor. “As I am sure you know, tomorrow marks the celebration of the former king’s birthday. The people of Altea are forever grateful to your presence and so it’s been decided we will hold a festival in celebration.”

“A festival?” Lance asked curiously.

“Yes.” Allura nodded. While it was mostly Coran’s idea, she still fully supported it. “This planet, especially this city has fallen into a depression since my father’s death. But, since your arrival, it’s like life has been renewed in us. And I would prefer if my father’s birthday were treated as less of a remembrance and more of a celebration. I know he would have loved to see the Gods themselves, let alone all you have done to help our planet.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Pidge chimed and Allura didn’t miss the glare Keith sent her way. It was unlike the Gods to have an argument amongst each other. When Allura glanced at Shiro, however, he cast his gaze to the ground. That was a little disheartening, especially after yesterday when it seemed as though Shiro had made so much progress. Then again, that was probably just wishful thinking.

“Thank you,” Allura said with a small smile. Regardless, she couldn’t let that discourage her. She had plans to attend to and she would have to make sure that word was spread to as many people as possible. The arrival of the Gods seemed to have marked a week of celebrations, which no one was opposed to. Across the planet, regular time seemed to have stopped, at least for the time being, and Allura was going to put this time to good use.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Pidge asked curiously.

“Oh, no, I would hate to trouble the Gods,” Allura said, shaking her head. “But we would be honored just by your attendance.”

“I think some relaxing is just what we need,” Lance said simply and Keith scoffed, but stayed quiet. There was an odd tension in the room that Allura couldn’t pinpoint, but it really wasn’t her place to ask, regardless. Hopefully, this didn’t have anything to do with how long it was taking to build their ship. Coran said that the workers were doing all they could, but perhaps it wasn’t fast enough…

“Well,” Allura said, taking a breath to collect herself. She still had a full day of celebrations to plan for, she couldn’t be weighed down with something she couldn’t help. “In that case, I’ll leave you to your business. I will send Coran to give you more details later?”

“Sounds great, Allura,” Hunk said with a smile.

That made Allura relax quite a lot, thankfully, and she left with an even wider smile. A celebration tomorrow would not only be what the city and the planet needed, it was what she needed. Ever since her father’s death…anything about him brought her down and it was hard to work, but if she made it into a celebration, remembered her father for all of the good he did for her and everyone else on Altea…she could finally move on. And be the queen he had always wanted her to be.

“We don’t have time for another party,” Keith said vehemently. Lance sighed, leaning against the closed door.

“Maybe we do really need to relax,” Lance offered again.

“No, what we need to do is get the hell off this planet before we get caught again,” Keith said.

“There’s nothing we can really do until they finish that ship,” Hunk said defensively. “It’s best to lay low and keep our profile, right?”

“And if we get caught?” Keith snapped. “Zarkon might be coming as we speak! What happens when he lands and sees his own _prisoners_ acting as Gods over a planet he’s basically already claimed? And what about you, Pidge?”

Pidge flinched slightly as the conversation turned to her and Lance raised a brow. What did Keith know about her that he didn’t?

“It can wait,” Pidge said slowly. “We aren’t going to get anywhere in the little pod we have now, no matter what I wind up doing to it. We can wait a few days.”

“Not if we get caught and captured again,” Keith said. “And I almost guarantee we can’t escape like we did last time. You seem to forget that Voltron is _his_ lion.”

“Well, if you want to leave alone, no one’s gonna stop you,” Lance said pointedly. He was getting tired of this argument and it looked like that was the only way to stop it. This way, either Keith really was going to leave and then they would have one less person to worry about or Keith would finally listen to reason and calm down. Lance really, really hoped it was the latter. As much as Keith annoyed him, he did want to see him safe.

The room was deathly quiet after that and Lance could feel Hunk glaring at him for making a comment like that. Keith looked between all of them before walking right up to Lance and the door.

“Then get out of the way,” Keith said, his voice low. Lance matched his gaze for a second, confused brown meeting angry violet. But then Lance stepped out of the way and Keith was gone. It was still stiflingly quiet for a while and Lance wasn’t sure what to say. He had really hoped that their friendship meant more than that to Keith, but he just stormed out anyway. And after that big speech about caring about everyone…

“This is my fault,” Shiro said and Lance immediately turned to face him. “I’m sorry.”

“This is definitely not your fault,” Lance blurted out, eyes wide and disbelieving at the very idea that this was Shiro’s fault.

“If I had just told you…” Shiro trailed off, staring at the ground.

“We all went into this with the agreement that we wouldn’t know about each other’s pasts,” Pidge said. “Knowing it shouldn’t make such a big difference.”

“Lance, what were you thinking, telling him to just…leave,” Hunk said with an exasperated sigh. “Now who knows what will happen. How will we explain to everyone why Keith is missing? Tell them he’s sick?”

“We can think of something,” Lance said. “It’s fine. We’ll figure it out, we always do. We should have known this con wouldn’t go down without a hitch. Every con has its bumps.”

“I’ll go find him,” Shiro said, walking towards the door.

“Um, look, no offense or anything,” Lance blurted out, “but you might not be the person Keith wants to see right now.”

“No, but…” Shiro paused. “I’m the one he needs to talk to. I’ll be back, just…don’t wait up.”

Lance groaned as Shiro left, too, hitting his head against the door. What had he done to deserve this? The con was going so well and then it all fell apart in less than an hour. Of course, that was just his luck, wasn’t it? At least he still had Hunk, Pidge, and Voltron. Speaking of the lioness, she slunk up beside him, rubbing her side against Lance’s leg.

“Well, we can’t just stand around here doing nothing,” Pidge said. “We need a backup plan, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Hunk sighed. “We might need a couple, considering what Keith was talking about.”

“First thing’s first, then. How do we want to go about this party?” Lance asked, standing up from the door.

Shiro looked down every street he passed, letting out a long sigh when he started realizing it was futile. If Keith really intended to leave, he probably would have gone to the ship they came in on. Shiro knew vaguely where it was, but he wasn’t sure. He had to find Keith, though. From the way he talked, it seemed like he knew more about Shiro than even Shiro knew. He knew what happened during all of those blank spots. For the first time, Shiro didn’t have to go to Haggar to find out what he did while he was missing. It was a hope he didn’t want to give up on yet, regardless of how angry Keith was with him.

Shiro jogged down the streets, trying to make sure he didn’t miss anything obvious before making it to the cave marking the exit to the city. He knew what laid on the other side of the cave, a house he swore never to see again. If he was lucky, he could just ignore it like he was able to when trying to run away. But that was a direr circumstance and he was very distracted. There was no time to hesitate, though. He needed those answers before Keith worked up the nerve to leave the planet.

As he exited the cave, however, he couldn’t help his own curiosity and he took a small turn. Maybe just a glance would be enough. But as he listened closely, he heard the sound of someone else. Immediately, he took cover behind a tree just in case it was Haggar. Who else could it be at this time of day out in the jungle? But when Shiro poked his head out around the tree his eyes widened.

Keith was walking right towards Haggar’s little shack. Why? How?

Shiro felt all of his breath leave him and he struggled to get it back quietly. Haggar did something to Keith, then? But why would she do that to one of the gods? Unless she already knew that they weren’t gods…Which meant this Zarkon Keith was talking about might have actually gotten information to her. The real question was how. And if Keith was actually telling the truth back there.

Shiro continued to watch, keeping himself small and out of sight. Keith barely even had to wait at the door before Haggar came out and Shiro felt his pulse quicken. He had to keep calm, he could do this. He ignored his shaking for the time being and kept watching. They were saying something he couldn’t catch, but he could tell that something was wrong. Haggar wasn’t acting as humbly as she did in public. In fact, she held herself with a level of confidence Shiro clearly remembered. This was bad…

All traces of Keith’s anger were completely gone, leaving him almost passive, hardly saying anything to Haggar. Keith had definitely been gone for too long and this proved it without a doubt. Keith went into Haggar’s home and Shiro turned back around, leaning heavily against the tree so he could catch his breath. He should tell the others…This was something they had to face…

But at the same time, Shiro couldn’t help but feel like he was at fault. If he had warned them just what Haggar was capable of, maybe they could have avoided this. At the very least, Keith wouldn’t have gone around snooping trying to find out information. Shiro could have given at least some of it himself. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could fix this himself, but he was also smart enough to know that not even the four of them could do something to get Keith out of this situation. There was no way to ignore it, however. Eventually, Haggar might start using Keith to do something bad…something they wouldn’t be able to just let slide.

Just the idea of Keith being under her control, in the same position Shiro was in just a short time ago…it made him unbelievably nervous. The shaking in his hands wasn’t calming and he couldn’t get a good rhythm to his breaths. Now was not the time or place to have a panic attack like this. At the very least…he had to get back into the city.

Little memories flashed in front of his eyes as he stood up and started moving. The little things his brain was _gracious_ enough to let him remember. The little moments of complete loss of control, of pain. It made him queasy just thinking about it. It caught him off balance and he knew he had to move quickly, so he did. He didn’t even care where he was going, as long as his feet moved him somewhere safer. He couldn’t get back under that control again.

And then…he found himself at a door. He didn’t have much time to take in his surroundings, but all he knew was that it was familiar. He must have knocked because the door opened and Allura stepped into view, giving him a questioning look. She looked just like she had earlier, tangled hair and tired eyes, but she seemed to have lost some of her energy through her work. Shiro opened his mouth to apologize, to tell her to continue with his work, to say that he had somewhere else to be, but none of those words came out.

Allura studied him for a moment, and after she realized he wasn’t actually going to say anything she delicately picked up his hand, his real hand, which was still trembling and the more he focused on it the more it _wouldn’t stop shaking_.

“Another panic attack?” Allura asked carefully, her voice as soft and soothing as it had been all the other times.

Shiro wanted to just shake his head and move away. He was disrupting her work with his problems. Again. He’d sworn he would stop when he realized he wasn’t getting any better, when the panic attacks never stopped coming with the flashbacks. He’d gotten alright at calming himself down. He didn’t need help.

And yet…

He found himself slowly nodding and Allura offered a soft smile.

“It’s okay,” Allura said. “What do you need me to do for you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not, like, a whole lot happened in this chapter, but that’s fine. More will happen next and this was just leading up to that. I know I started off with relatively long chapters but my muse just isn’t feeling long chapters for some reason. But that’s fine, the story is still getting done because I am determined to finish this one! Regardless, some interesting stuff with Keith, which we still don’t know a whole lot about, but we will soon, promise! And some bonding between Allura and Shiro, so that’s always nice.
> 
> Anyway, here’s a preview for next time:   
> “My Lords,” Allura said, turning all of their attention to her. Hunk closed the door behind them once everyone was inside. “What is going on? Is this really a threat to my people?”
> 
> “Yes,” Lance admitted. “It’s…complicated, but your people aren’t safe.”
> 
> “Then do something,” Allura prompted. The four grew quiet at that and Allura grew angry. “You’re the Gods! You’re capable of miracles, are you not? Save my people.”
> 
> “Look,” Lance said carefully. “We’re not…Gods.”
> 
> “What?” Allura asked bluntly.


	11. The Jig Is Up

The Jig Is Up

The festival was awkward. Sure, the Alteans were happy and running around and enjoying their time, but Hunk couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with the rest of his team. Or, what was left of it. Shiro had disappeared going after Keith, leaving just Hunk, Lance, and Pidge to keep up their personal image. Thankfully, no one asked where the other Gods were, but it was still highly suspicious. It made it difficult to enjoy anything, but Hunk couldn’t help but wonder where they had gone. It had been a whole day and there was no sign of either Keith or Shiro.

“Am I the only one thinking this is bad?” Hunk asked, leaning close to Lance to keep his voice down.

“Nope, I’m definitely getting nervous, too,” Lance said, nodding. “What if Keith was right? What if Zarkon is coming here and we’re just sitting around waiting to get arrested again?”

Pidge hummed, sitting on top of Voltron once again, absently petting behind her ear. They stayed still for a moment and Hunk knew they looked suspicious. They should have been going around and laughing and enjoying the festivities with everyone else. But he couldn’t even fake that he was having fun. He was so nervous he felt like he was about to puke. What even happened to Shiro and Keith? What could have happened to them?

Lance drew out a long breath before straightening himself up. “Okay, we only really have to wait until, like, tomorrow before the ship is done, right? We can wait that long, it’ll be okay. And…if Keith and Shiro aren’t around…then it’s their fault, okay? We agreed to be a team and they abandoned us, so we shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

“But what even happened to them?” Hunk asked nervously.

Lance wracked a hand through his hair as he began pacing. This was bad, this was so bad. Hunk and Lance were experienced con artists and they’d never seen one of their plans unravel this fast. This was getting into the territory of dangerous and they had to think of the safest way to get out. Sadly, Hunk couldn’t think of anything except wait a day and even that came with risks. What if the ship wasn’t ready for another few days? What if Zarkon does show up? What if Shiro tells everyone about their lie? So many more things could go wrong and honestly Hunk just wanted to get off the planet as soon as possible.

“Hey, uh, guys?” Pidge piped up, her voice shaking just slightly.

“What?” Lance asked and Hunk followed Pidge’s gaze. His jaw dropped.

It was Keith. He was standing, completely relaxed, beside _Haggar_ , of all people, talking with some Alteans and actually smiling and laughing with them. It was…incredibly unnerving, especially in comparison to the way he reacted when he left the team. Something was definitely off about it. Hunk had seen Keith laugh, seen him relaxed, and it didn’t look like this. In that moment, Keith was slouching, making perfect eye contact, talking in a way that just felt very out of character for him.

Hunk looked back at Lance and Pidge to see them as distressed as him.

“Something’s fishy here,” Lance said, narrowing his eyes. “I’m gonna find out what’s up.”

“Let’s wait a little on that one,” Pidge said, holding onto Lance’s pant leg before he could get very far. “If something’s wrong, we can’t just draw attention to it out of nowhere. Obviously, Haggar’s involved, we need to think about that, too.”

“Plus, we can’t just say a God was subject to mind control in a crowd like this,” Hunk offered.

“We don’t even know if that’s what’s going on,” Lance groaned, glaring up at the sky. “This was all going so well, why did it have to fall apart so fast?”

“We need to find a way to get Keith alone,” Pidge mused and Hunk nodded in agreement.

“How?” Hunk asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Pidge said, looking at everything closely. “I can get through a crowd without being noticed, so I could sneak him away from her if one of you can distract her. Maybe if he’s alone we can figure something out.”

Hunk and Lance looked at each other before Lance held out a fist. “Rock, Paper, Scissors for it?”

“I’ll do it.” Hunk sighed and Pidge nodded, giving him a thumbs up before getting off of Voltron.

“Lance, watch after her,” Pidge said. “Who knows what could happen to _her_ if we leave her alone.”

Lance nodded eagerly and Hunk moved forward, taking a deep breath. He could do this; it wasn’t that hard or intimidating to just strike up a conversation with an evil witch lady who had the ability to control the minds of his friends. Nope, not at all. He sorted through his mind for all of his normal conversation starters. Normally, between him and Lance, he was the distraction, so he was used to this. And he didn’t need to distract her for long, just enough to make sure Haggar didn’t notice Keith’s disappearance immediately. After that, he could run away and make it back to safety. Where was safety, again?

“Hey, Haggar!” Hunk said, feigning happiness as she shouted over the crowd, walking right up to her. Keith seemed more surprised than Haggar, looking right at Hunk without saying a word. Hunk chose to keep his eyes on Haggar for the time being. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Anything for one of the Gods,” Haggar said eagerly, leaning close to him. She was definitely just as creepy as he remembered, probably more if this brainwashing thing was real.

“As you know, we’ve all been in the Heavens for a few thousand years,” Hunk said conversationally, keeping eye contact. He didn’t even try to glance at Keith to see if he was gone or not, just to make sure he didn’t attract attention. They should have made, like, a signal or something for when it was safe for him to leave. Oh, well. “So what I’m wondering, is where this Altean custom came from to eat with these things you call sporks.” He motioned to one of the people passing them by, who was indeed holding a spork in their hand as they walked by. Honestly, Hunk thought that any properly civilized planet should use sporks instead of using two different utensils, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. He just needed a conversation.

“Sporks?” Haggar asked, narrowing her eyes. Maybe it was too casual of a conversation.

“Yes, you see,” Hunk said, trying to draw out the conversation as much as he could, “up in the Heavens, we started using sporks millennia ago but I’ve always wondered how the same strike of inspiration reached down here.

“I’m afraid that’s not my area of expertise,” Haggar said slowly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me-”

She started turning around and Hunk couldn’t help himself before shouting, “Wait!” But it was too late. Haggar looked back, but thankfully, Pidge was quick and Keith was already gone. Her face changed quickly into one of outrage and Hunk ran into the thick crowd behind him. Thank the Gods for this festival that allowed him to hide quickly. The only problem with that was that it made him get lost extremely easily.

Luckily, Lance seemed to have sensed Hunk’s panic and found him quickly, Voltron skulking close behind.

“Great job, big guy,” Lance said with a slight laugh. “You’d think after a few tries you’d figure out that sporks don’t really make for good conversation.”

“It was all I had,” Hunk groaned, but followed Lance through the crowd anyway. “I wanna see you do better.”

“See, I’m good with flirting,” Lance said, “but I don’t think I can flirt with Haggar, no matter how hard I try.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hunk muttered. Lance weaved through the crowd with ease, most of them moving out of the way of one of the Gods without a second thought. Before long, they reached a little alleyway and slunk into it. He heard the shouting the second they left most of the crowd behind.

“I have everything covered!” Keith shouted.

“It didn’t look that way to me!” Pidge argued. “The least you could say is thank you for getting you away from her.”

“Who said I wanted to get away from her?” Keith scoffed.

“Okay, let’s all calm down,” Hunk said, stepping between them. “Keith, what happened? We thought you left.”

“The pod’s a piece of junk,” Keith said. “I couldn’t get it to fly again.”

“So, why are you so close with Haggar now?” Lance asked.

“She opened my eyes to a few things,” Keith said, still tense. “You should talk with her, too. Might teach you something…”

“Um, yeah, okay,” Lance said. “Do you even remember yesterday when you were raving about how Haggar was dangerous and how Shiro was brainwashed by her?”

Keith blinked at him. “Shiro is dangerous, we shouldn’t be anywhere near him. I’m glad he’s disappeared for the time being, it’ll make things easier for us.”

“You aren’t making any sense, dude,” Hunk said. “Let’s all just take a deep breath and think through this.”

“Do you think Haggar might have brainwashed you?” Pidge decided to ask.

“You can’t just…ask someone that,” Lance said, looking at Pidge.

“Whatever she did, it was for the best,” Keith said and all three of them looked at him, speechless.

“How can you say that?” Lance asked. “You, Mr. I Do What I Want And Never Follow Rules, thinks that someone controlling your mind is totally fine? Do you even hear yourself?”

“Don’t…try to confuse me,” Keith said, glaring at him. “I know what’s best for this team, unlike you three, who think just gallivanting around and going to parties is a good way to spend our time. At least I’m doing something.”

“Like what?” Pidge scoffed. “Obeying her orders? What about Zarkon? Shouldn’t we be expecting him? By the sound of you yesterday, you were sure he was going to show up soon.”

“Maybe it would be better if he did come and arrest us,” Keith said simply.

“Woah, okay, we’re gonna take that back a few notches,” Hunk said. Tensions were incredibly high right now and he definitely didn’t like it. “We all need to remember we’re still mid-con right now. Everyone’s in danger of getting caught at any time. Maybe it’s better for all of us if we just go to the shrine and stay there until the ship is ready.”

“Seconded,” Lance said.

Before Pidge could say anything, a deep shadow came over them and it filled Hunk’s stomach with dread. He looked outside of the alleyway, seeing that the streets were also covered by this shadow. Looking up, he could see why. A ship was blocking out the sun. A very, very big ship. Hunk recognized it from the countless times he’d seen ships exactly like it across the galaxy.

“Zarkon,” all four of them breathed out at the same time.

“He’s already here,” Pidge said breathlessly. “We need to move, now.”

“We never came up with a plan for if he came today!” Lance shouted. “What are we gonna do?! Run? We don’t have a way off this planet!”

Hunk looked at Keith, who was staring up at the ship, an unreadable expression on his face. Who knew what he was really thinking, but it probably wasn’t good.

“You’re staying with us,” Hunk said, taking a strong hold on Keith’s wrist. “Until we can figure out what’s up with you, you’re staying close.”

Before Keith could protest, there was a loud sound above them. The ship was getting closer still. It would only be a matter of minutes before it docked and sent a few scouting ships down to start searching. Maybe even bring Zarkon himself down. This was bad.

“Let’s find Allura,” Lance said. “We need her on our side before Haggar gets to her.”

“Good idea.” Pidge nodded. They started running and Hunk dragged Keith behind him. Voltron was more than happy to run with them. The thick crowds were motionless in awe of the ship, maybe some of them thinking this was the work of the Gods. Hunk wasn’t about to shut down that idea. After all, if this really was Zarkon, this might be one of the last moments of freedom they had.

Shiro hadn’t left Allura’s side for a while. He felt safe beside her, and maybe a little stronger. He knew he had to go find the others soon and tell them about Keith, but he didn’t think he had the strength. He was weak…

Allura was determined that her festival would go well, making sure everyone was happy as she flitted around the city and communicated with other cities over planet-wide communications. Shiro liked the mindless work of following her. It almost felt like when they were little. Inseparable. But it felt wrong, still. Shiro knew he had other things to do, but…

“What is that?” Allura asked, snapping Shiro out of his thoughts. She was looking up at the sky and Shiro followed her gaze, furrowing his brows when he saw a massive object in the sky. It was a ship, that much was clear, but…where did it come from? Was it that Zarkon everyone was talking about? Then this wasn’t good…Why was he there? Was Keith right about Haggar?

“We need to get you inside,” Shiro said, already beginning to guide Allura back to the castle.

“What? Why?” Allura snapped. “Shiro, what is going on? Do you know?”

Shiro tried to think quickly, he had to find a way to get Allura to safety. “The Gods told me about a bad omen coming, this is it, we need to get you inside.”

“If it’s dangerous, then I need to lead my people to safety,” Allura argued.

“Please, princess,” Shiro nearly begged. He couldn’t lose someone, not now, not her.

“Do you think I’m not strong enough to help my people?” Allura demanded.

“No,” Shiro said, eyes wide. “No, that’s not it. We’ve already lost one strong leader, your people don’t need to lose another. You can still help them, but from inside. Please.”

“What is even happening, Shiro?” Allura asked, but she stopped fighting against him. Everyone else seemed confused as to what to do, so Shiro easily forced his way through the crowd with Allura close behind.

“I’m not sure,” Shiro admitted, but he knew it wasn’t good. Once Allura was safe, he could figure out what else to do. Granted, he wasn’t sure if even the castle was a safe place to be. Where were the others? The gods? Surely, they hadn’t just run off at the sight of this Zarkon coming…

They barely even made it to the front door when Shiro saw the other four and the lion running towards them.

“Shiro!” Lance shouted, his eyes wide with relief. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I’ve been…” Shiro hesitated, opening the door. “That’s not important. Do you have a plan for this?”

“Are you kidding?” Lance scoffed. “There’s nothing we can do right now.”

“We still have Keith to worry about,” Pidge said. Shiro finally looked at Keith, who was struggling against Hunk’s tight grip. If he was under Haggar’s control, he had no doubt that he wanted to run to her, but he was thankful the others caught on to what was happening to him. “Do you know what’s going on with him?” Pidge asked him.

“Haggar’s control,” Shiro said breathlessly.

“My Lords,” Allura said, turning all of their attention to her. Hunk closed the door behind them once everyone was inside. “What is going on? Is this really a threat to my people?”

“Yes,” Lance admitted. “It’s…complicated, but your people aren’t safe.”

“Then do something,” Allura prompted. The four grew quiet at that and Allura grew angry. “You’re the Gods! You’re capable of miracles, are you not? Save my people.”

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge looked at each other, Keith finally standing still as he tried to find a way out of this situation. Shiro didn’t know much about Zarkon, but he was enough to make them question giving away their con, then he was worse than he imagined.

“Look,” Lance said after a silent agreement was reached. “We’re not…Gods.”

“What?” Allura asked bluntly.

“We faked it,” Lance said, wincing as he did. “We’re just some runaway thieves and con artists and we got distracted by your gold. But we’re in way over our heads right now and we can’t do this, definitely not on our own. Zarkon’s here chasing us and probably to try and take over the planet for his own and Haggar has some kind of mind control over Keith and…we can’t perform miracles.”

“You…have the lion,” Allura said slowly.

“And that’s all it is,” Pidge said. “We don’t know where she came from, but she’s not a God, either.”

Allura stayed quiet, looking between all four of them before turning to Shiro. “Did you know?” she asked in a low voice. Shiro nodded slowly. “For how long?” It was a demand, not a question. She was angry, a rare sight.

“Since they landed,” Shiro admitted. He didn’t have time to react before he felt a harsh _smack_ across his face followed by a sharp sting and he winced, but didn’t fight back. He deserved a slap like that for deceiving her, that he knew.

Allura turned sharply to the other four, who flinched.

“You came onto my planet and brought hope to my people,” Allura said simply. “You came here claiming to be Gods and that’s what you’re going to be. If this Zarkon is here for you, then you owe it to me to stay and fight. We can talk about punishment for deceiving us later.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Hunk said with wide eyes. “Fight?”

“You do not get an easy pass out of this,” Allura said with a glare. “Now, help me come up with a plan to help save my people.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lance said, nodding slowly.

“And keep him,” she pointed at Keith, who had stopped struggling since her commanding tone started, “here, by whatever means necessary. We can figure out how to help him later.” Everyone nodded and Allura took a deep breath, straightening herself out. Now that she wasn’t talking to the Gods and she was angry, she was the person of most authority in the room and she knew it. She took it to her advantage and made even Hunk look small in comparison. “Well, you said you were thieves and runaways. Tell me your strengths so we can find a way to fight this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this isn’t moving too fast. I haven’t been able to write for a while so I’m hoping this is good. The story will be wrapping up relatively soon, depending on how fast this action goes through, but yeah we are definitely reaching the climax. Anyway, now Allura knows and Keith is definitely under mind control. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out!
> 
> Here’s a preview for next chapter:   
> “Why do you care so much about me?” Keith asked. “Is it just because you’re still holding onto the hope that we’re actually Gods? Because you don’t want to rule this planet on your own and we made your job easy? What did you even do before us? I hope not just organize parties. Maybe your father was the better ruler.”
> 
> Coran obviously made a move to react, but Allura held up a hand to stop him. She kept herself even as she continued to ignore Keith’s words, no matter how much they stung. She had to try and help him.
> 
> “Isn’t it sad that it took a bunch of fakes to get the people to actually like you?” Keith antagonized further. “What are you even going to tell your people? That you let these people fool you into thinking they were Gods? How will they react? They trusted you.”
> 
> “Shut up,” Allura hissed and Keith smirked. She glared at him and he matched it easily.
> 
> “Or maybe everyone was just playing along,” Keith offered. “Because they all knew you weren’t as good as your father. They probably never trusted you.”


	12. I Trust You

Honestly, Lance trusted Allura. She was a good leader, better than what any of their group could be. But that certainly didn’t mean she was terrifying when she was angry. She had every right to be, naturally, but that didn’t mean Lance wasn’t scared for his life sometimes. They all knew that there would be risks with this con and eventually revealing it, but so far it looked like the only punishment they were receiving were the princess’s death glares and being forced to actually face Zarkon.

“I have a really, really bad feeling about this,” Hunk mused beside Lance where they hid in an alley, staring up at Zarkon’s ship.

“Do you have a better idea?” Lance asked. Sure, he had a few problems with facing possibly the worst person in the universe head-on, but they really had no choice. Allura made it very clear that they were part of the reason this problem was happening and so they had to fix it. That didn’t mean that Lance was shaking at the mere idea of facing Zarkon again. Especially now that he had Haggar backing him up and no one knew how powerful she could really be, especially with this mind control thing under her sleeve.

“Well, no,” Hunk said with a frown. “I just think it’s a bad idea to send Pidge in first.”

“I have my problems with it, too,” Lance said. Thanks to Allura’s quick thinking and a quick message, at least everyone in the capital was safe indoors, meaning they were the only ones outside. “But our usual hothead is out of commission so she’s our best bet.”

“And are we really sure leaving Keith alone with Allura is the best option?” Hunk asked. They were waiting for a specific signal to start moving. The plan was to get Pidge as their distraction. Shiro was with Voltron in another part of the capital to act as another distraction.

“I think that’s probably the best place for him right now,” Lance said. “They can handle each other at their worst.”

“D’you think Pidge is hacking it yet?” Hunk asked after a short moment of silence.

“Let’s hope she is,” Lance said. “I can’t stand sitting here without helping for very long. Coran was able to hook her up with enough of their advanced tech to get away with a lot, so it shouldn’t be long now.”

“What happens after this?” Hunk asked, probably trying to fill the awkward tension with conversation. Still, the conversation was just as awkward. Lance sighed heavily. “I mean, are we even going to be able to get off this planet?”

“I dunno,” Lance said. “I think that’s more of a question to ask after lives aren’t at stake. But, honestly, if I were in Allura’s shoes, I wouldn’t just let us go, would you?”

“No,” Hunk said with a sigh. “But, what will happen, will we just wind up prisoners again?”

“Well, maybe if we save the day well enough, we won’t need to worry about that,” Lance said. The ship was incredibly ominous above them, especially since it wasn’t moving and it hadn’t moved for quite a few minutes. It made Lance antsy, to say the least. Anything could happen to wreck any plans they came up with. Or maybe they would just get really lucky and this would all finish up without a hitch. That was the dream.

“ _Ready_ ,” a voice came over the earpiece in Lance’s ear and he nearly jumped out of his skin. It was just Pidge.

“Shiro?” Lance asked over the headset. “How are you looking?”

“ _Voltron and I are ready when you are_ ,” Shiro said, his voice sounding surprisingly calm considering the situation. “ _You and Hunk?_ ”

“We’re good,” Hunk said.

“ _Princess?_ ” Shiro asked and they waited for Allura’s response, to start the plan she created. Lance honestly had no idea why she was so hesitant to act like a leader when she did just fine when push came to shove. Now that she wasn’t treating their little team like Gods she definitely seemed more comfortable in her own skin. And she had no problem being rude to the people that pretended to be her Gods.

“ _Go ahead, Pidge_ ,” Allura said. “ _Don’t do anything too reckless, okay?_ ”

“ _I’ll try_ ,” Pidge said with a heavy sigh. “ _Look out because this is gonna get intense pretty quick. Get ready to move quickly, Shiro._ ”

They waited in silence for a few minutes. A few incredibly tense minutes that left Lance nearly shaking as he stared at the ship. Worst case scenario, they were taken by Zarkon again as prisoners, possibly killed for theft and attempted escape. Best case scenario, they were left to face whatever punishment this planet had for them once they were free from Zarkon.

Finally, a loud sound came from the ship above them once again and distracted Lance enough to bring his attention there instead of the future. It took Lance a second to figure out what the loud sound was and he immediately reached for his hidden pocket, only to find his phone missing once again. He groaned while the sound of Nickleback filled the air around them and Hunk couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Well, that’s one way to do a distraction,” Hunk offered.

“I’m so gonna kill her if this drains my battery,” Lance muttered under his breath. At the very least, the ship finally began to show signs of life, and that was a good sign. Lance looked around the edge of the alley to his and Hunk’s destination. The tunnel into the forest. They all knew, with Zarkon keeping his focus on the entire city, they wouldn’t be able to make the run to the forest. Sure, they could slink around in the alleyways and shadows all they wanted, but the run to the tunnel was in plain sight.

Lance watched as Shiro started running with Voltron. He came from another alley close to the tunnel. His job was probably the most dangerous, which was why they chose the only person Zarkon probably wouldn’t be able to recognize. Lance and Hunk waited until Shiro had run a good distance before they started moving, hoping that Zarkon and his soldiers would be well enough distracted that they wouldn’t be seen.

Thankfully, the Nickleback wasn’t interrupted by the time they made it to the tunnel and out into the jungle around the city. Also thankfully, it didn’t look like Haggar was outside the city with them. There was no telling where she was, but Lance didn’t want to think about that. Instead he kept running with Hunk at his side. Keith said something about not being able to fly the pod, but they were relying on that fact being a lie. Regardless, Hunk was a tech whiz, surely he could figure out how to fix a little pod in a few minutes.

It was weird seeing the pod they’d been staying in for weeks after living in a castle for a few days, but still it was a welcome sight. It looked just about the same as before and Lance didn’t even hesitate to open the door and climb inside.

“Sure you can fly this thing up to them?” Hunk asked nervously. “Who knows what they’ll do once they see a flying pod coming towards them.”

“Yeah, I mean, it can’t be that hard,” Lance said. He set about turning the thing on and it took a few tries, but it eventually sprang to life. He sighed with relief. He turned on his earpiece to tell the rest of the team. “The pod’s on, we’re about to head up.”

“ _Stay safe, guys,_ ” Pidge said. Lance nodded shakily before closing the door. The machine whirred to life and Hunk took a seat, buckling himself in just in case. Lance was definitely nervous, way more nervous than he normally was for one of their usual cons. Then again, this wasn’t quite a con anymore, was it? Still just as life threatening, depending on the con, but with way more reliance on his own stamina and flying abilities than usual.

Shiro’s voice came over the headset as Lance slowly got the pod up in the air. “ _I’m almost to the castle, there should be good distance between us. Just in case, you should probably go pretty fast_.”

“That’s definitely the plan,” Lance said, shutting off the headset. He needed to focus for this. Regardless of what went wrong now, he had to go ahead and do this, finish Allura’s plan. Soon, they managed to clear the jungle and Lance didn’t hesitate before moving as fast as the pod could go. Not only were they relying on Zarkon being distracted, but they were also relying on the fact that a bay door had to open to eventually get his own smaller ships out of the big ship. There was only so much Zarkon could do from this distance before he had to land someone on the ground. Hopefully that happened sooner than later.

Lance flew towards the ship, ignoring the trembling of the little pod and Hunk for the time being. It looked like they got extremely lucky as he rounded one of the sides of the massive ship, just on the outskirts of the planet’s atmosphere. And by lucky he meant ships were coming out to shoot at them. He was able to roll out of the way of some of the hits, but quite a few landed. He had to act impulsively, rely on his inner Keith for a minute, and decided that his best bet was to keep going full speed ahead right at the ships.

Lance was great at the game “Chicken,” if he did say so himself and he left no hint of hesitation as he headed straight for one of the ships. It let out a few shots, but not quick enough and, soon, it had to bail before Lance hit it. That left him a small window of time that he could use to get inside of the hangar before the doors closed. Keeping up his speed, Lance pushed forward and noticed that the hangar doors weren’t closing, which was already highly suspicious. He gritted his teeth as they entered the hangar, shots from ships and people alike slamming into their pod and beginning to break down the walls, a few shots making it inside.

“Hold onto something!” Lance shouted as he felt himself lose control of the pod and it slammed into the floor. Everything went black.

* * *

“Okay,” Allura said with a small sigh, kneeling down beside Keith with a book in her hands. The library had an extensive selection of books of all kinds, including magic. It couldn’t be that hard to figure out what Haggar did to Keith and how to undo it. Keith, meanwhile, was handcuffed to a chair, but he was making no attempt to escape, at least not yet. He was still smart enough to know when it was futile to waste his energy. Coran stood behind her, rather anxiously. Their plan was already underway and there wasn’t a lot anyone could do, without any huge weapons system. Pidge was busy in another room hacking into anything she could get her tech into. Allura still wasn’t sure if she was under some kind of Godly influence to have an ability like that at such a young age.

Keith looked at the book nervously before looking up at her defiantly. Allura met his gaze with equal anger before turning her attention to the book, rifling through the pages to find something that could fit what was happening here. Eventually, she hit something that looked like mind control. She let out a long breath as she read through the entry. She already knew she couldn’t trust Haggar with much, but she’d never been able to really defy her. Her father had trusted her family for an extended period of time, but if what the “Gods” said was true, then she couldn’t trust her anymore. If she really helped lead this…Zarkon here, then Allura would have to figure out what to do with her later.

Allura evenly read out the words to the spell, hoping that something would happen if she did. But when she looked back up at Keith and he just raised a brow at her, she sighed, continuing to flip through the book.

“There’s really no point, you know,” Keith said eventually and Allura simply glanced up at him. “Zarkon pretty much controls half of the known universe. If he wants something, he’s gonna take it.”

“Well, we won’t let him have this planet without fighting for it first,” Allura said pointedly. It was a reaction her father might have been proud of. He wouldn’t just let their planet be taken. That might have been the reason they went into isolation from the rest of the universe. Maybe Alfor died before he could tell her about all the dangerous things out there. Well, regardless, the danger managed to find them and she wasn’t about to just sit by and let it take everything she cared about.

She tried another spell, again to no avail.

“Even without mind control, I still know what side is the winning side,” Keith said.

“I’ll trust your judgement once I know you’re fully in control,” Allura said evenly.

“Why do you care so much about me?” Keith asked. “Is it just because you’re still holding onto the hope that we’re actually Gods? Because you don’t want to rule this planet on your own and we made your job easy?”

He was just trying to entice her to fight back, to react. It must have been a part of the mind control, to get people angry with him and distract them. She wouldn’t let it work. She just focused on the book, trying another spell, but Keith cut her off in the middle of it.

“What did you even do before us? I hope not just organize parties. Maybe your father _was_ the better ruler.”

Coran obviously made a move to react, but Allura held up a hand to stop him. She kept herself even as she continued to ignore Keith’s words, no matter how much they stung. She had to try and help him. She tried finishing the spell, but Keith remained the same.

“Isn’t it sad that it took a bunch of fakes to get the people to actually like you?” Keith antagonized further. “What are you even going to tell your people? That you let these people fool you into thinking they were Gods? How will they react? They trusted you.”

“Shut up,” Allura hissed and Keith smirked. She glared at him and he matched it easily.

“Or maybe everyone was just playing along,” Keith offered. “Because they all knew you weren’t as good as your father. They probably never trusted you.”

Allura reacted before she could stop herself, closing the book and hitting Keith on top of the head with the spine. It was a thick massive book and likely did a lot of damage. Keith groaned, shaking his head. Allura swallowed her apology and regret, glaring at him.

“I am just as good a ruler as King Alfor,” Allura said evenly and Keith looked up at her, wincing. “Now, don’t make me gag you.”

She took Keith’s silence as an agreement and she opened the book again. It was starting to look hopeless, but she couldn’t just let him stay under mind control. Maybe only Haggar was the one that could release him, which would be a bit of an issue.

“If you don’t mind me making a suggestion,” Coran piped up and Allura looked back at him, hoping he had something that could work. “The Nectar of the Gods is said to have great healing capabilities.”

“Go get some,” Allura said. Regardless of if nunvil actually worked for healing, the shock of the flavor alone would surely be enough to shock Keith into some state of mental stability. Coran left and Allura looked back at Keith curiously, trying another tactic just in case. “Your friends are out there risking their lives right now to save my planet. And yet you’re working with the people trying to hurt them. Do you feel nothing about that?”

“I don’t have friends,” Keith said simply. “Hell, my own family left me alone. It’s only a matter of time before it happens again.”

“They care about you,” Allura pressed. “I know that you know it, too. Or you would have left them long before any of this.”

“Then you don’t know what it’s like to live as a thief your whole life,” Keith said simply. “You lie to get what you need, no matter how long you need to do it.”

“So you turning your back on your friends is entirely your own idea?” Allura prodded. Keith nodded and she sighed. “Are you sure about that? Even without Haggar being involved, would you have done this? Just sat by and allowed these people to risk their lives to protect yours?”

“They don’t even know that my life isn’t worth protecting,” Keith said.

“We’ll see about that,” Allura said delicately. Coran returned with a glass full of the disgusting liquid he loved so much. Allura knelt beside Keith before carefully taking hold of his head and tilting it back slightly. Naturally, Keith closed his mouth tightly, but Allura knew plenty of tricks to force people to drink something. She took hold of his jaw and pressed in on his cheeks, forcing his mouth to open and the liquid to come in.

Keith sputtered and gagged and Allura immediately stepped back, pulling the nunvil away. Not a lot made it inside, but plenty of the flavor did. Keith shuddered as he winced, but curiously enough he swallowed the drink on his own.

“Why is that worse than I remembered it?” Keith asked, his voice low.

“The longer your ferment it, the stronger it is,” Coran chimed happily. How he enjoyed this drink was still a mystery to her, but what was more important was Keith and his control of his own mind.

“Well?” Allura asked, leaning forward a bit, as if there was a physical way to see that he was free of mind control. “How do you feel?”

“I…” Keith looked her in the eye for less than a second before looking at the ground. “I didn’t mean what I said.” Well, that was certainly a good sign, but not enough proof that they needed. “I’m…sorry.”

“How do we know this worked?” Allura asked. Keith shook his head.

“I guess we don’t?” Keith asked with a shrug. “You said the others were out there risking their lives, but I never heard your plan, what are they doing?”

Pidge’s voice came first, from the door into the library they were keeping Keith. “Well, Lance and Hunk just crashed into Zarkon’s ship,” she said and the room stayed silent for a few moments.

“They did what?” Keith demanded, immediately struggling against the restraints. “Those idiots, I have to find a way to-”

“To do what?” Pidge asked. “There’s no way for us to get up that high and they took the pod we came on.”

“Your ship,” Coran mused. “It’s not finished, yes, but we could get it off of the ground…”

“I can’t fly anything like that,” Pidge said. Allura couldn’t fly, either. No one on Altea could, considering their lack of expertise for centuries.

“I can,” Keith said. Everyone in the room looked at him and he scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You’re gonna have to trust me. But you were right, Allura. I care about them and they’re in danger. Please, trust me.”

“We don’t know if…” Allura trailed off. She wanted to trust him, but there was no guarantee that he would use the ship to do something that would hurt them again.

“Do you still mean it?” Pidge asked and Keith looked at her. “That you are going to help me find my family?”

“Yes,” Keith admitted.

“No matter what?” Pidge asked. “Swear it?”

“Yes.”

“Then if you don’t follow through, I swear I will follow you to the edge of the universe and make you help me,” Pidge said. “We don’t have time to be skeptical. There’s no telling what happened to Lance or Hunk and Shiro’s still out there with Voltron and Zarkon’s ships are touching down to search for him. We need to act now.”

“Fine,” Allura said, kneeling down to unlock the cuffs around Keith’s wrists.

“Thank you,” Keith said, watching her closely. “And…I am sorry. For everything, including lying to you for so long. You are a good ruler.”

“Well, we’ll see if this plan of mine can follow through,” Allura said. “Coran, go help them make sure the ship can take off.”

“Of course,” Coran said, already half way out the door. Pidge and Keith followed him close behind and Allura sighed. Regardless of what Keith had said, her pride hadn’t shaken. She felt like she could trust these strangers, despite their lies and the fact that they were incredibly spontaneous and hard to control. She just hoped that her faith wouldn’t wind up being the death of her planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay, I wasn’t quite sure where I was going with this in the beginning, but it worked itself out as I kept writing, so that’s good, right? Hopefully…Anyway, yeah, things are coming to a head and now we have a cliffhanger, so isn’t that good? 
> 
> Anywho…here’s a preview for next time:  
> “I won’t let you do anything to hurt these people,” Hunk said seriously. He might not actually be one of their Gods, but he owed them this much for lying to them. And he could never stand to see people get hurt.
> 
> “Who are you to stop me?” Zarkon asked. Hunk gritted his teeth, trying to look around for a way out. It didn’t look like anything was going to help.
> 
> Before Hunk could say anything else, he heard the sound of a blaster and saw Zarkon take a hit directly to this chest. He stumbled and the Galra holding onto him seemed to hesitate long enough for Hunk to wrestle himself out of their grip and stumble away. Defying his own instincts that told him to get as far away from Zarkon as possible, he went straight for Lance in hopes of getting him away. There was another shot and Hunk finally looked up with wide eyes to see Keith standing in the doorway, blaster poised and ready to fire again.
> 
> “Keith?” Hunk gaped.


	13. The Unexpected

Hunk looked over at Lance when he heard another groan, but he kept moving, regardless. Lance was hurt badly by their landing, but Hunk managed to make it out alright, with only a few scrapes. Lance was on his back as Hunk ran through the ship. They had to keep going with their plan, especially since they couldn’t contact anyone on the ground for some reason and there was no other way to get up there. Hunk figured that Zarkon had some kind of communication blockers, meaning they were completely alone.

He ducked around a corner to stop and take a breather. Lance was still out of commission and Hunk worried his lip trying to think of a good plan. He could still do this. He would just have to find the control room, or even just the engines. And then mess something up. It would be best if Zarkon’s ship didn’t come crashing to the ground, but he would have to figure that part out on the fly. For now, though, he had the problem of trying to hide form all of the people on the ship. They were able to sneak away in the smoke created by Lance’s clever distraction. All of this had to be a part of Lance’s plan to get them out of here easily. Hopefully.

Hunk took a deep breath to center his thoughts before he started moving again. He was able to duck around some of Zarkon’s soldiers easily enough, but he didn’t know how long his luck would last. Lance was the one that was a wiz with languages, probably knew a lot more Galran than Hunk would ever know, he would know the way to something useful.

Hunk nearly jumped out of his own skin when he heard the siren overhead, lights flashing over them. Lance groaned, trying to shift slightly but he didn’t get very far considering his wounds. What were the people on Altea doing? Hunk shook his head. A distraction was good, he could do more without being noticed. Hunk hummed as he ran down a hallway, finally deciding to try a door to get him somewhere useful. He chose a pretty large door, ripping out the scanner pad and wiring it within seconds, barely juggling Lance on his back.

The second the door opened, he ducked inside, praying to whatever Gods there actually were that no one would be inside. Luck, however, was still not on his side. He was greeted by a room with a lot of soldiers. Apparently he walked into an armory.

He turned on his heel and started sprinting. Not good, not good, not good. He barely ducked around a corner when shots started firing and Hunk almost considered moving Lance around, but was soon faced with a platoon of soldiers in front of him. He barely stumbled to a stop, his own panting breaths drowned out by the siren overhead. He had to think of something, some way out…but he was alone. He worked way better with other people to bounce off of.

The entire ship suddenly skewed, slamming Hunk and all of the soldiers into the wall. The ship groaned loudly and Hunk shook his head to clear his vision before he ran forward without thinking. The Galra soldiers were still recovering so he was able to blow past them without much of a fuss, the firing beginning again after another corner.

There was another hit against the ship and Hunk barely managed to stay on his feet to keep running. Whoever was helping him, he was grateful, he just hoped that nothing bad would happen to the people down below if something bad happened to Zarkon’s ship. Another hit and the groan sent through the ship sounded like enough to make it start falling apart.

Hunk went for another door, this time trying to work even faster. The ship was hit again and his head slammed into the wall. He groaned, but kept working, the door opening for him. This time, thankfully, there weren’t soldiers. But there were what looked like mechanics, which meant Hunk was probably in the right place. The mechanics looked ready to fight, which did put Hunk at a severe disadvantage, but there was another hit on the ship. This time, however, it was massive and Hunk was launched forward and he lost his grip on Lance, who slid forward. Luckily, the mechanics were taken off guard as well and were on the ground, too.

Hunk scrambled to his feet and ran towards one of the machines nearest to him. He had to break something that looked important, anything important. He didn’t exactly have a lot of tools on hand so he went with mostly external things. There were a lot of fans he could reach and some wires and tubes that he could tear out. The ship was making some different sounds now, so Hunk took that as encouragement.

Before he could get much further, he was grabbed from behind and pulled away. He fought back, trying to get out of their grip and hitting whatever he could reach, but the Galra were definitely stronger than him so the grip stayed.

“You are, by far, the most troublesome prisoners I’ve ever had.” That deep voice sent shivers down Hunk’s spine and he looked over to the source. Zarkon stood in front of him, looking down at Lance with distaste. There were two Galra mechanics with a good grip on Hunk, but no one on Lance. They might have figured that he was too out of commission to do anything against them. “Your time of amusement has passed.”

“I won’t let you do anything to hurt these people,” Hunk said seriously. He might not actually be one of their Gods, but he owed them this much for lying to them. And he could never stand to see people get hurt.

“Who are you to stop me?” Zarkon asked. Hunk gritted his teeth, trying to look around for a way out. It didn’t look like anything was going to help.

Before Hunk could say anything else, he heard the sound of a blaster and saw Zarkon take a hit directly to this chest. He stumbled and the Galra holding onto him seemed to hesitate long enough for Hunk to wrestle himself out of their grip and stumble away. Defying his own instincts that told him to get as far away from Zarkon as possible, he went straight for Lance in hopes of getting him away. There was another shot and Hunk finally looked up with wide eyes to see Keith standing in the doorway, blaster poised and ready to fire again.

“Keith?” Hunk gaped.

* * *

Pidge grunted, holding onto her seat as Keith slammed into the ship for a second time.

“Are you sure this is the best idea?” Pidge asked.

“Shut up and trust me,” Keith said, moving the ship back, ignoring all the creaks and shakes that came with it. He needed a hole big enough for them to get out into the ship with. The bay doors were closed off, which was apparently how Hunk and Lance actually got in. “Hold on!” Pidge held on even tighter to the seat. The ship was huge, fit for the Gods, apparently, and it could take quite a beating, just like Zarkon’s ship. They made contact again and Keith was flung into the belt of the pilot seat, both ships groaning in unison, but Keith heard the definite sound of something breaking apart.

“Okay,” Keith said after taking a deep breath. He looked over at Pidge, who was also trying to catch her breath. “We need to get moving.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said slowly. “Yeah, let’s move.”

Keith struggled with the belt for a short while before getting out and he started running through the ship. It was huge, fit to contain all of the treasure they would have gotten if this con had actually worked out. One major thing it was missing was any kind of weapon. Apparently the people of Altea didn’t think they needed weapons anymore considering they were a peaceful planet. Which meant they would have to get creative if they wanted to make it out of Zarkon’s ship alive.

Keith stumbled to a stop when he finally reached where the two ships had collided. Of course, the ship wasn’t perfectly broken to let them through, but there were quite a lot of tears in the metal that they could make their way through. Keith only hesitated for a moment before he moved forward to find a good way through.

He refused to spend any more time just standing around doing nothing. The very idea of being under that mind control again made his skin crawl. It was a weird feeling, like everything he was doing was his idea, but he knew it wasn’t. All of the stupid, hurtful things he said just because Haggar wanted to try and tear their group apart…because she wanted Keith to keep them around for longer and act as a distraction…

Keith found a tear tall enough for him to squeeze through and he pushed against the metal, wincing at the creaking sound. It was weak enough after all those hits that he could push it aside to open up a gap big enough for him to fit through. He was almost surprised when he made it into Zarkon’s ship and he didn’t see any soldiers. There were a few that were caught up on the collision, but he didn’t pay them much mind.

Pidge made her way into the ship shortly after as Keith knelt down to pick up a blaster from one of the fallen soldiers, looking it over briefly to make sure he could use it.

“So, where do you think we should try first?” Pidge asked curiously, kneeling down to pick up her own blaster.

“The plan was to find the engines or the cockpit, right?” Keith mused. “So, we should try and find those. Knowing Lance, we’ll need to find the place with the most guards. He likes to draw attention to himself.”

“Let’s just hope they’re okay,” Pidge said. Keith nodded. Lance and Hunk better be okay.

They started running through hallways and Keith was looking for any kind of disturbance, anything that could link them to where Hunk and Lance could possibly be. Keith didn’t understand any of the Galra language and all of the doors looked exactly the same, so he found himself impossibly lost. When he looked back to Pidge, she just gave him a shrug. They were both lost.

Finally, when Keith turned a corner, he could see an open door coupled with the sounds of a struggle. When he heard Zarkon’s voice he couldn’t help but run forward, blaster poised at the ready. He couldn’t even hear the words he was saying when he looked inside the room and saw Lance, unconscious, by Zarkon’s feet and Hunk being held back by other Galra. He fired without thinking.

Everything in the room seemed like it happened at once; Hunk tore away from the Galra holding him back, Zarkon stumbled back but made a move to pull out some other weapon, Hunk stumbled right for Lance, who was still extremely close to Zarkon. Keith fired again, if only to give Hunk some more time. Hunk looked up at Keith for a moment with shock in his eyes.

“Keith?” Hunk gasped.

“Get moving, we can ask questions later,” Keith said, shooting Zarkon again. The shots weren’t doing as much damage as he would have hoped; the alien was still standing. Hunk barely had enough time to get Lance in his arms before they ran out of the room.

“Did you get any kind of damage done?” Pidge asked.

“I did something,” Hunk offered. “This tech isn’t like any of the other stuff I’ve seen before. I did what I could.”

“And Lance?” Keith asked, looking over their friend to see if any of his injuries were severe. There were quite a few bruises around his head, leading Keith to believe he hit his head hard on something when they crashed into the ship the first time. But he looked alright. At least, he looked like he was breathing.

“He’ll be okay,” Hunk said. “Hopefully.”

“So what’s the plan now?” Pidge asked. Keith glanced back, half expecting to see Zarkon and soldiers following after them, but nothing was behind them. Zarkon must have a plan, then…

“We still haven’t stopped the ship,” Hunk said. “I don’t think we’ll get much luck back there, so we need another way in. If we can get to a cockpit of some kind…maybe get the ship out of the atmosphere…these guys could have a chance.”

“You plan on stealing Zarkon’s lead ship and literally flying it away?” Pidge asked.

“Do you have a better plan?” Hunk asked.

Keith tried using his new earpiece to try and contact Allura on the ground, but all he got was a bunch of static the second he turned it on. So they were alone without a way to get more ideas.

“We can fly it away from Altea and figure the rest out from there,” Keith said and Pidge looked at him like he was crazy. “Look, there’s no other way at this point unless you want to try and find another way into the engine room, if Zarkon is even still there.”

“If he’s not following us, he’s probably already predicting where we’ll go,” Pidge said. “I have an idea. We need to split up.”

“What?” Hunk asked and they finally came to a stop. Keith looked around, but it didn’t even sound like anyone was trying to find them. It was very suspicious. “There’s no way I’m leaving either of you alone on Zarkon’s ship.”

“Hear me out,” Pidge said. “Zarkon’s got the upper hand right now, he knows what we’re gonna do. So let’s be unpredictable.”

* * *

Shiro was exhausted. And so was Voltron. She looked about ready to fall over where she stood. Shiro looked up at the ship overhead and all of the smoke coming off of it with Keith’s latest move. He was relieved to hear when Keith snapped out of the mind control, but he couldn’t help but feel worried when he heard about his plan. Regardless, Shiro still had his end of the bargain to uphold. He was a distraction and he had to lie in wait until he was needed again.

“Allura,” Shiro said, allowing himself to rest by leaning against a wall. Voltron finally lied down and Shiro smiled faintly at her. “Any signal from the ship?”

“ _No, not yet_ ,” Allura responded. Shiro let himself fall onto the ground, resting his legs. Voltron let out a low purr before nuzzling against his leg and he chuckled, patting her head. “ _I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon. It looks like they’re getting something done._ ”

“Let’s just hope that ship doesn’t come crashing down,” Shiro said. “Are you in a safe place for now? We can’t afford to lose you, Princess.”

“ _I’m right where I need to be, don’t worry_ ,” Allura said and Shiro sighed. Of course she was being reckless. It was a habit she’d had for years, but it had been absent ever since Alfor’s death. Despite the situation, it was good to see her getting comfortable in her own skin again. Shiro just hoped that everything would work out well enough that it could continue that way.

“Stay safe, Princess, let me know if I need to do anything else. I’ll be staying here for a while to rest.”

“ _Keep a look out, I think some of Zarkon’s men are on the ground._ ”

“Will do.”

Shiro leaned heavily on the wall behind him. He looked up at the sky, where his newfound friends were risking their lives. It was quite astounding, really, to think that he would possibly have friends after everything that had happened. Especially friends not even from his planet. If it weren’t for that con…who knew how Shiro’s life would have turned out? Would this Zarkon still be here? What could have possibly happened then?

He shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about that. Shiro had to stay focused, in case anything changed or went wrong. He was a distraction and he had to keep the people on the ground safe with Allura and Coran’s help.

He looked back up at the ship and noticed with wide eyes that something really had changed after all. The ship was going out, into space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay, these chapters keep taking longer to do, but I promise we’re nearing the end. Maybe just like two more chapters max? Anyway, things are heating up some more, so look forward to next chapter!
> 
> Here’s a preview:   
> “Do you know how Keith’s doing?” Pidge asked.
> 
> “He’s looking,” Hunk said. “There’s a high chance he’ll get caught by Zarkon. Are you sure it was the best idea to send him looking for them?”
> 
> “He volunteered,” Pidge said.
> 
> “Okay, well, we need to start looking for something that will work,” Hunk said. “If I can find some kind of power source to this place, we could do some damage there. Maybe blow this place up.”
> 
> “Blow it up?” Pidge asked with wide eyes.


	14. Let's End This

Pidge took a deep breath as she continued running, slipping around a corner as more guards started firing their guns. She refrained from firing her own rifle to make sure she had enough for when the moment counted. If Zarkon was smart, he would know who Pidge was, where her family was. He would assume she would go to any lengths to find her family. Which was why, with a heavy heart, she wasn’t doing what her mind was screaming at her to do. They had to be unpredictable in order to stand a chance alone on this ship. She just hoped that Keith, Hunk, and Lance were doing as well as she was.

They didn’t know the layout of the ship and they lacked any kind of communication and Lance was the only one with any understanding of the Galra language, which meant they were kind of screwed. But if this plan worked out alright, they could at least save Altea. Hopefully.

Finally, Pidge made it to a kind of important looking door. She hacked into it in seconds before running inside, closing the door and shooting the lock closed before looking inside. It was…exactly what she was looking for. While she didn’t understand most of the Galra language, she did have a little experience with Galra tech, and this was the bridge they’d been looking for this whole time. There were a few Galra still inside, but none of them were armed. Pidge pointed her gun at them, knowing full well that the Galra didn’t just give up, no matter what their job was. That didn’t keep her from hesitating, though.

There were six of them. Six shots. Six, really easy shots as they ran towards Pidge with the intent to kill. She took a deep breath when she stood alone in the room, but she moved forward. She had to stay focused. She fiddled with the few things she could see in the bridge, but it looked like she would need a Galra hand.

She winced as she hoisted the body of one of the Galra and placed the hand on the handprint, hoping this would get her somewhere useful. All she got, however, was more of a language she didn’t understand. So she started hitting buttons. They did something, if the sounds in the previously silent room were anything to go by. People were starting to slam into the door to get to her, but she tried not to let that bother her. She could do this. Finally, finally, it seemed like she hit the right button and the ship started moving. Up. Away from Altea. Next was the hard part. How were they supposed to find a way to make sure Zarkon didn’t come back to this planet?

Pidge didn’t get a lot of time to think that through before the door finally slammed open. Thankfully, it wasn’t who she was expecting. Hunk made his way inside, Lance still out cold on his back. A lot of Galra soldiers were on the ground outside the door, but it didn’t sound like there were any more outside. At least not for now.

“You did it,” Hunk said breathlessly. He set Lance down on the ground, panting from exhaustion. He’d been running around just like the rest of them and with Lance as added weight, he must have been exhausted. “What now?”

“Unless you can learn Galra in the next few minutes, we might just be screwed,” Pidge said. If only Lance was awake…this would be so much easier! “We can make the ship leave, but Zarkon knows where Altea is, he’ll just come back. We need a better plan. Do you know how Keith’s doing?”

“He’s looking,” Hunk said. “There’s a high chance he’ll get caught by Zarkon. Are you sure it was the best idea to send him looking for them?”

“He volunteered,” Pidge said. She was extremely grateful for Keith to make the sacrifice to try looking for her family. There was no telling if they actually were on this ship, but there was still a chance, albeit small. And Keith was risking his life not only looking for them but also serving as a distraction. Who knew how long it would last, though.

“Okay, well, we need to start looking for something that will work,” Hunk said. “If I can find some kind of power source to this place, we could do some damage there. Maybe blow this place up.”

“Blow it up?” Pidge asked with wide eyes.

“If we get far enough into space, it won’t affect Altea,” Hunk said. “And…it’s the only way to make sure Zarkon doesn’t find them again. And…think about it, no one in the universe really likes him all that much, right? It might just be better that way and…”

“We’d be stuck on here, too,” Pidge continued for him. They waited in heavy silence for a short while after that until they heard a groan. Coming from Lance.

“In that case,” Lance said, his voice very quiet as he used Hunk to get him to a standing position, “I have an idea.”

“Lance, you should be resting,” Hunk insisted and Lance shook his head.

“You need a translator, right?” Lance asked weakly, moving towards where Pidge was standing, examining the stand with all kinds of buttons and information. “I can point you to what you need to press. We can make this thing blow itself up from here.”

“Are we sure we want to do this?” Pidge asked.

“We’re criminals of the universe, right?” Lance asked weakly. He looked like he was about to fade again at any moment. “We’ve been going against the law for a long time. Not like we’ll be missed.”

“And we kind of owe it to Altea for…lying to them like that and bringing Zarkon right here,” Hunk said. “I…I’m willing. If you are.”

“We’ll blow it up on one condition,” Pidge said. “We find Keith, see if he found my family…and then we at least try to get out of here. We don’t need to succeed but…we need to try.”

“As long as Hunk can keep carrying me,” Lance smiled weakly and Hunk nodded. “Okay, follow my instructions.”

Lance called out a few buttons and levers and Pidge worked quickly to press everything in the right order. She wasn’t about to question how Lance was so knowledgeable in Galra tech, it was very useful right now. Finally, she pressed the last button and a different alarm sounded through the ship, along with a voice speaking in another language.

“We did it,” Lance said before he fell back again, Hunk able to catch him in time. He was out cold once again.

“Thanks, Lance,” Pidge mused. “Now, come on, we need to go find Keith.”

“That won’t be too difficult.”

Pidge and Hunk froze at the sound of that familiar, deep voice. It was Zarkon. They both turned around to see Zarkon with three of his soldiers, pointing guns at three prisoners, all of them with their hands in restraints in front of them. First, there was Keith, who was heavily bruised and beaten. He must have tried fighting, but it didn’t look like that ended very well for him. The other two…Pidge felt the tears well in her eyes at the sight of them. Matt and her dad. They were alive. They didn’t look good, but they were alive.

“You have been thorns in my side for too long,” Zarkon said. Hunk and Pidge had both grabbed their guns, but it was hard for Pidge to focus. What if…they accidentally hit her family? She’d been looking for them for too long. “Now, behave and let me kill you and I won’t hurt your family.”

Pidge knew Zarkon didn’t negotiate, knew he was a liar. But there was still a chance… She looked at her family. Her dad was beyond weak and downcast, barely able to catch her eye for more than a few seconds. Matt, on the other hand, still had some defiance in his eyes. He silently urged her not to do it.

“But if you don’t put your guns down immediately, I’ll shoot them all now instead,” Zarkon said and Pidge felt her eyes widen. He was including Keith in that as well. Keith had a look in his eyes that clearly portrayed that he was trying to think of a plan, of something that could help them. Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other, both of them starting to put their guns down.

What happened next was too fast for Pidge to fully comprehend. Keith turned around and the guard on him immediately shot his blaster. She didn’t see it hit Keith, but she knew it landed. Still, he managed to yank the gun from the soldier, hitting him hard with the butt of the gun. Keith was quick to shoot one of the guards holding Pidge’s family captive and Hunk had quick reflexes to hit the other. Even with the restraints, Keith was able to maneuver the gun so that it pointed right at Zarkon and Pidge and Hunk followed suit. It was quiet except for the alarm still sounding above them. The ship was going to blow up soon…but how soon? Could Pidge get her family to safety in that time?

“Are you sure you want to waste your time like this?” Zarkon asked easily. “You only have a few minutes.”

“Which means you’ll go down with us,” Keith said simply, breathing heavily. Pidge noticed he was trembling all over, blood hitting the floor from his wound. Sam could only look on in shock while Matt fumbled with another guard’s gun before putting it up as well. He was weak, but he could still handle this, even if just barely.

“We need to move now,” Hunk said and Pidge nodded. There was only one way for all of them to get out of there in time; they had to fire. It seemed like everyone understood that, firing at Zarkon at nearly the same time. This time, the hits really did something to him and he fell to the ground. They didn’t have enough time to check if he would stay down. Hunk tossed the gun to the side to get Lance onto his back again and Pidge was with Matt in an instant to help get their dad on his feet to start moving.

They ran, Keith stumbling in front of them, but still the fastest. They were all exhausted.

“Escape pods,” Pidge offered. “Where would they be?”

“I saw them a few times,” Matt said. “Um…they’re…go right.”

They all moved together as Matt weakly commanded them through hallways until they finally reached them, the escape pods. There were a few left after all that happened, surely a few Galra were smart enough to leave when they could. They had no time to wait and see if Zarkon was following them before they all piled inside, the little pod meant to handle no more than three people packed with all six of them. Keith took his place at the pilot seat, familiar enough with the controls to get it started and working. Pidge still didn’t know how much time they had left in the countdown.

“Come on…” Keith whined, holding onto his stomach as he fumbled with the controls. Finally, it started moving, away from the ship. Pidge smiled. They really, actually did it. And they were alive. Mostly.

But before they could celebrate, something massive slammed against their pod, sending everyone against the hard metal of the walls, floors, and ceilings. Pidge felt a ringing sting through her ears before she hit something again and it all went black.

* * *

Shiro was speechless as he stood in the middle of the street, staring up into the sky. The other ships had long since left, either as needed back up on the ship or finding a way to escape. The entire planet waited with baited breath as the ship left the atmosphere, but they only had to wait for a few minutes before they all saw and heard it.

The explosion. It was massive, big enough to see even from where Shiro and Voltron stood. There was no way anyone could survive that, but he still watched and waited.

“ _Shiro,_ ” Coran’s voice came through the earpiece and Shiro couldn’t think of a way to respond. They couldn’t possibly be…dead…Shiro knew they weren’t Gods but still…they couldn’t just die like that. “ _Shiro, there’s some debris coming to land. We can’t get a good look at most of it but…it looks like there’s a pod of some kind, it’s coming for the capital._ ”

“Where?” Shiro responded immediately. A pod. It had to be them.

“ _Near the jungle_ ,” Coran said.

“ _Shiro, be careful,_ ” Allura said, but Shiro didn’t respond, instead he just started running, Voltron following close behind. He looked up at the sky, watching as the debris fell, most of the ship staying in space after it left the atmosphere. Shiro was finally able to see the large bit of debris, the pod. It looked remarkably similar to when the ‘Gods’ landed on Altea the first time, but this time it filled Shiro with dread.

He couldn’t run fast enough, but he was almost thankful for it. The pod wasn’t slowing down, it was crash landing. When it finally made contact with the earth, the ground beneath him trembled and shook, practically causing him to lose his footing. But he kept running anyway. When he finally made it to the crash site, he didn’t even hesitate to climb over the rocks and ground that surrounded it.

He was actually surprised to see that the hatch for the door was facing upwards, but there was no way to manually open it from the outside.

“Shiro!” Allura called over to him and he looked back. She must have ran as well, already out of breath like Shiro. “Are they in there?”

“I…I don’t know,” Shiro said. “I can’t get it open from here.”

“Coran,” Allura said, touching the headpiece. “We need tools now. They might be inside.”

“If this crashed,” Shiro said, “they’re probably not in good condition. If they’re in here.”

“Then we’ll act quickly,” Allura said with a determined nod. “They saved us, the least we can do is return the favor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mkay, so with this chapter I’ll have the last chapter already prewritten so it won’t be long until you see it. The story is finally finishing up now that the last of the climax is finished. One last cliffhanger and we’re finally done.
> 
> Anyway, here’s a preview for the last chapter:   
> “After what happened with Zarkon, I passed out,” Keith mused. He stared at Pidge as she looked over the pods of her family. “Is everyone alright?”  
> “Seems like it,” Lance mused. “I’m not even in pain anymore. Whatever those pods were, they helped a lot. Wonder how long we were out…”  
> “This is Altean tech,” Pidge said and they both looked over to her. “It’s definitely not Galra, I’d be able to tell. And it looks a lot like all the other Altean tech we’ve seen.”  
> “Does that mean…we did it?” Lance asked.  
> “I hope so.”


	15. What Now

Lance didn’t feel like anything. It wasn’t like he was numb, but he just didn’t…feel like he existed. Like he was just kind of floating in nothing, his consciousness barely coming in and out enough for him to have a few coherent thoughts. It was…weird and unnerving. He didn’t like it. He knew there was something he had to remember, something nagging at the back of his head, but he could barely even process how he was feeling, let alone memories he couldn’t find.

And then, finally, that weird feeling just…snapped. All of a sudden, he could feel everything again and he snapped his eyes open, drawing in a breath. He felt…really freaking cold. He finally started looking around, leaning heavily against whatever the hell he was standing in. It was some room with a bunch of pods in a circle and his groggy mind finally processed what was happening. His friends were standing in the other pods, all looking like they were asleep. And there were two other people he’d never really seen before, but they looked a lot like Pidge. Lance’s hand immediately moved to the places on his body he was sure he’d been injured. His head was totally fine, not even sore, and all of the scars on his arms were completely gone.

It was eerily calm around them, it made him uncomfortable. The last thing he remembered, albeit vaguely, was being on Zarkon’s ship, sirens going off, the whole thing shaking. But it was startlingly quiet. No one moved except for him. When he looked down at himself he noticed that he wasn’t even in the clothes he’d been in before. He was in an all-white body suit, but it was at least comfortable. So…did this mean that they succeed? Were they back on Altea? When Lance helped them find a way to self-destruct the entire ship he honestly didn’t expect them to make it out alive. And yet…

Then again, there was also the possibility that they were captured by Zarkon and kept alive to becomes slaves…

Lance immediately shook himself out of his thoughts when one of the other pods opened, Pidge nearly falling out of it. Lance tried to move forward to catch her, but his own feet stumbled and he nearly fell over himself. Luckily, Pidge was able to catch herself on the edge of her own pod, blinking up at Lance. She scanned the rest of the room for a few seconds before finally looking solidly at Lance.

“What…happened?” Pidge asked quietly.

“I’m not really sure,” Lance said. It was so painfully quiet beforehand, what little they did speak sounded almost like shouting. It was so weird. “What do you remember?”

“We got in the pod and…” Pidge trialed off mid-sentence before immediately turning to the pods of those other two people. “Matt. Dad.”

Before Lance could ask a question, another pod opened and Keith really did fall out, onto the floor, barely catching himself in time on his hands and knees. Lance couldn’t help but laugh as Keith shook his head, returning to reality. Eventually, Keith looked up at Lance with a glare that made Lance laugh even harder, holding onto his stomach as he knelt over from laughing so much.

“Shut up,” Keith snapped at him before looking around. “Where are we?”

“Great question,” Lance said. “I dunno. Do you have any memories of what happened?”

“After what happened with Zarkon, it's all a blank,” Keith mused. He stared at Pidge as she looked over the pods of her family. “Is everyone alright?”

“Seems like it,” Lance mused. “I’m not even in pain anymore. Whatever those pods were, they helped a lot. Wonder how long we were out…”

“This is Altean tech,” Pidge said and they both looked over to her. “It’s definitely not Galra, I’d be able to tell. And it looks a lot like all the other Altean tech we’ve seen.”

“Does that mean…we did it?” Lance asked.

“I hope so,” Pidge said and both of the pods in front of her opened at the same time. She caught the older one when he stumbled forward and the other one (Matt, Lance guessed) barely caught himself on the pod. “Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?”

“No, we’re fine,” Matt said with a small smile. “Where are we? What even…happened? Who are they?”

“They’re my friends,” Pidge said easily, glancing back at Lance and Keith.

Lance couldn’t help but move towards Hunk’s pod, the last one to open. How badly did he get injured if he was the last one to wake up? From what Lance could remember, he carried Lance through that ship alone for quite some time before everyone else came to help. Lance just hoped that he was okay. He had to be okay, he was Hunk.

“You’re awake.” That was a different voice, but it was familiar. Before Lance could even look back at their new guest, Hunk’s pod opened and he couldn’t stop the smile on his face as Hunk opened his eyes.

“Hunk!” Lance cheered. They were all okay. They all made it out of there alive.

“Dude, what hit me?” Hunk asked as Lance helped him out of the pod and finally look at their guest.

Shiro stood in the doorway of the room, arms crossed over his chest awkwardly. He was relaxed, happy and Lance nodded to him with a smile. Shiro cleared his throat before he spoke up again. “I’m guessing you have a few questions. Allura and Coran would love to answer them for you.”

“I think we all have a bit of talking to do,” Keith mused.

“It looks like we have a lot of catching up to do, too,” Pidge’s dad said with a slight laugh, standing up straight with Pidge’s help.

* * *

Allura was nervous. Today was the day the “Gods” were supposed to wake up. While Allura wasn’t nervous about seeing them again, she was nervous about something else entirely. It had only been a few days, but a lot was crossing her mind. She hadn’t told her people about the false Gods yet. In fact, she’d informed everyone that the Gods were resting after putting so much effort into saving their planet from that intruder. She told everyone that Haggar was a liar who lured Zarkon there, but no one had seen her since that ship showed up. Allura felt terrible for lying to her people, but she wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t turn the people that saved them into liars and con artists. Everyone viewed them as heroes, as Gods meant to protect them.

Not only that, but now she was faced with how to thank them. She was still undeniably angry with them for lying and cheating them like they did. They had every intention to steal gold from them and leave without looking back. And at the same time they risked their lives to keep the planet safe from any harm. Allura owed them gratitude, certainly, but how much was the question. Not to mention Shiro’s connection with them. He had visited them multiple times every day to make sure their recovery was going smoothly and it was because of these false Gods that Shiro was starting to return to his normal self once again. Then there was the lion, Voltron, who had taken a liking to Allura.

Even now, as Allura sat at her desk looking over some bills for repairs, Voltron laid by her feet, letting out a low purr of happiness. Allura had grown to like the lion as well, enjoying her company and warmth. Allura shook her head, trying to stay focused on the matter at hand. She had a job to do and she couldn’t let herself be distracted. Until the “Gods” woke up, she had to do her job like a proper queen.

There was a knock at the door and Allura nearly felt her heart hammer in her chest. Voltron didn’t even hesitate to get up and walk towards the door, sniffing under it excitedly and scratching at it. Not even Shiro’s visits got a reaction like that, which could only mean one thing. Allura stood up, perhaps a little too quickly but no one else was in the room to see her nearly trip over her own desk, and quickly opened the door.

She couldn’t help but smile a little when she was greeted by the faces of the entire group; Lance, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and Coran were all there, along with the other two they had brought along, who they could figure out were Pidge’s family. Allura had quite a few question for them, but they must have questions for her as well.

“I’m glad to see you all awake,” Allura said.

“Yeah, we’re all pretty surprised, too,” Hunk admitted.

“Let’s go somewhere we can all sit comfortably,” Allura offered, stepping outside of her office. Her work could definitely wait, she had more important things to deal with. The air between all of them wasn’t necessarily awkward, but it was tense and quiet. No one was entirely sure about what to ask first, who would ask questions first, and the false Gods didn’t seem entirely sure what fate would greet them after everything that happened.

Finally, they made it to a sitting room, and Allura offered for all them to sit before her.

“Well, this sure is interesting,” Coran mused. The four “Gods” all sat together on one couch, Shiro leaning against an armrest, while Pidge’s family sat on two arm chairs beside them. Allura and Coran sat on the last two arm chairs in front of them. “Who wants to go first?” Coran asked.

Allura looked to Pidge’s father and brother. “I assume you two must have quite a few questions.”

“Well, the walk from the healing room gave enough time for us to get the gist of it,” Pidge’s father said.

“From what I hear these guys gave you all quite a run for your money,” Pidge’s brother said with a slight snicker. “Seems like a bit of a dick move to fake being Gods, but, hey, no hard feelings, right?”

“About that,” Lance said, rubbing the back of his head. “We didn’t exactly have a lot of time to talk about that when it happened.”

“We understand if you have any kind of punishment in mind for us,” Hunk said. “We messed up and it definitely wasn’t fair.”

“We can’t make up for what we tried to do,” Keith admitted. “We are incredibly sorry for taking advantage of your religion.”

“And we’re sorry for trying to steal your money and a ship,” Pidge said. “We understand whatever path you decide to choose.”

Shiro had already done his own apologizing once everything had calmed down and everyone was in their healing pods. But it was rather endearing to see them do it. It made Allura feel even more conflicted than before about what to do with them. She had to do something, but at the same time she couldn’t do anything to them without telling the entire planet that not only did the Gods lie to them, but Allura did as well.

“We’ll discuss what we’re doing with the consequences later,” Allura assured them. “For now, I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“What happened after we fell?” Hunk asked. “All I can remember is getting into the pod and then Zarkon’s ship exploded.”

“There’s no way we could’ve landed well at all,” Pidge said.

“You didn’t,” Allura said. “It was…far worse than your first landing on our planet. Shiro was the first to fine you but it took us quite a few ticks to get you out of that pod.”

“All of you were severely injured,” Coran explained. “So we brought you back here, to those pods. We’re glad to see our planet’s heroes are feeling well once again.”

“So you’re calling us heroes?” Lance asked, the guilt very evident across his face.

“Have you even told the rest of the planet?” Keith asked. Now it was Allura’s turn to feel the guilt. Especially with the question coming from Keith, the things he said to Allura when under mind control still fresh in her mind. But she couldn’t let it bother her now. She’d made her decision.

“No, we haven’t,” Allura said. “It was my decision. Everyone on this planet respects you for what you did. You destroyed that ship without using weapons and harming anyone on his planet.”

“So we’re going to keep lying?” Pidge asked.

“More like we aren’t going to tell them the truth,” Shiro said. “But in the end, it is up to what you decide.”

“Uh…what?” Lance asked.

“Here’s our deal with you,” Allura said, leaning forward slightly. “What you did…risking your lives to save our planet…you deserve some forgiveness at least. Granted, pretending to be our Gods with the intention to steal gold is a terrible crime and I’m inclined not to forgive you. But, considering all that you’ve done…I’m willing to let you off easy.”

“Easy,” Hunk repeated.

“Well, obviously any space worthy ships we had have been destroyed,” Coran said. “And it could take quite some time to make another one, if we do decide to make one.”

“Are you saying you’re keeping us here?” Keith asked.

“You’re technically criminals,” Allura said clearly. “Your intentions from the first minute you landed on this planet was to deceive us and steal from us. From what I’ve heard, all of you were taken into custody by that Zarkon for stealing, gambling, and conning people out of their money and possessions. We’re not putting you in our custody, technically speaking, but you’ll be staying on this planet for the foreseeable future.”

“So, when you said it’s up to us if they find out if we’re actually Gods…” Lance mused.

“We won’t control what you do,” Allura said. “You all earned your right to freedom in that aspect. So you’ll be staying here until we decide it’s safe for us to return to space travel and we can start making new ships.”

“And, of course, we’ll make sure all of you can live comfortably, especially your family, Pidge,” Coran said.

“Thank you,” Pidge said and it seemed the rest of their team were still cautious and speechless. It seemed like no one was entirely expecting that kind of reaction from Allura. Of course, she was rightfully angry with them for what they tried to do, but it was incredibly outweighed by how grateful she was for them saving her entire planet. And helping her figure out a few things about herself and her abilities as a leader. The rightful princess of this planet.

“And Shiro?” Hunk asked, glancing at Shiro, who smiled slightly.

“I mean, I never pretended to be a God,” Shiro said. “I guess you could say I’m in the same position as you; I won’t be able to leave this planet for a while.”

“I think a little stability won’t be half bad,” Pidge’s father said with a relieved sigh. “After moving around for so long, maybe staying in one place won’t be so horrible.”

“I don’t know, I get a little restless,” Lance said, lacing his hands behind his head as he leaned back in the couch, finally relaxed now that he knew he wasn’t exactly in trouble. Now that it was up to them to decide if they kept up the charade, they had a lot more power in their hands. Just like Allura and Coran guessed, they were a lot more comfortable when they had a little control. Just like criminals.

“We’ll see if you can even live without conning someone every few minutes,” Keith said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Wanna bet on it?” Lance asked with a smirk.

“Thank you very much, Princess,” Hunk said, bowing his head slightly. “We’ll make sure you don’t regret this.”

“I hope so,” Allura said with a smile. She had a feeling she wouldn’t wind up regretting this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was thinking about how to end this for a while; whether they would stay or leave like in The Road to El Dorado. Because them staying involved a lot of character development but if they were given the choice honestly they would just leave, so I decided to compromise with myself. So essentially they are prisoners to this world, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not they wind up letting out the secret. I hope Allura’s reasons for not saying anything came through well enough, too, but oh well.
> 
> This story has been a trip, honestly. I’ve been slowly losing interest just because it’s taken so long for me to finish it but I refused to give up on it. Luckily I was able to finish it before season 2 came out and maybe for my next fic I’ll be able to keep myself motivated enough. I enjoyed this story, but not as much as I did in the beginning and I hope it didn’t come through as much as I think it did in my writing.
> 
> Oh, well, thank you everybody for reading. Hopefully I’ll see you around!


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